


Ash in the Wind

by VixenRose1996



Series: Vix's Commissions [2]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 4
Genre: Adoption, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Gen, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Human Trafficking, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Slavery, Wacky grandpa dragonborn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 50,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23239681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VixenRose1996/pseuds/VixenRose1996
Summary: When the scholars of the future write about the Last Dragonborn, Kravos Redwind, they may write about his slaying of Alduin the World-Eater or his culling of the Forsworn. Some may study his time at the College of Winterfell or his efforts to rid Skyrim of the Thalmor. There will be those who note how one of his adopted daughters married into the Septim royal family and wrote many wondrous poems.Few will ever remember how he seemingly vanished for a year only to return with a new daughter by his side, but this is that story all the same.
Series: Vix's Commissions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670857
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PreppyClown](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=PreppyClown).



Kravos Redwind, the Last Dragonborn, had done much in his fifty-two years of life.

He slew Alduin, quelled a civil war, and crushed the Forsworn under his boot. He’d fought the Altmer and the Silver Hand, bringing them both to heel. He’d become a thane several times over and always did his best to serve the people of his holds. He’d conquered the Labyrinthian and tangled with over half-a-dozen Daedric Lords, coming out on top nearly every time. He’d defeated Lord Harkon of Clan Volkihar and overcome the Gradous with the down of his own Thu’um. He’d learned to sing prettily in three languages. 

He’d raised ten children so they were proud and strong. He’d worked hard to ensure that they’d grow into better people than him, that they’d never need to shed as much blood as he had. And, in Kravos’ own admittedly biased position, he’s succeeded spectacularly. 

Alesan had become a sea trader and now had himself an entire fleet of ships under his name, in addition to a beautiful Redguard wife. Runa was an honored member of the Companions and best friends with Aela’s daughter, Berengaria, though Kravos often felt the two were something more. Blaise became a wealthy farmer, owning wide stretches of lands with many workers under him. Sofie had perhaps been elevated the highest by wedding Emperor Titus Mede III’s second son, perhaps she would never sit a throne but she’d always have a comfortable life. Hroar opted for a simpler life as a hunter, running a prosperous shop in Whiterun with his family. 

Sissel followed her passion and talent for magic to the College of Winterhold, Kravos was sure she’d be a fine Arch-mage one day. Samuel was now a decorated Legate in the Imperial Legion and married to the grand-niece of General Tullius. Lucia, who could sing like a lark, studied rigorously at the Bard’s College and eventually became so renowned that courts all over Tamriel, catching the eye of many admirers. Francois had, with a heavy heart, decided to return to Cyrodiil to search out any signs of the parents who had abandoned him at the Honorhall Orphanage, though he never found them he eventually made the decision to stay and study in Leyawiin. Kravos was even proud of Britte, his most difficult child, who’d made herself a comfortable life as a blacksmith.

From these ten amazing children, he’d also been given thirteen wonderful grandchildren that he thanked the Nine for every day for them. He cherished each one and looked forward to their visits, which were fewer and far between these days. As every one of his children endlessly commented on, Kravos was a doting grandfather and admittedly spoiled his grandchildren whenever he saw them, if for no other reason than there was little else to do with his vast wealth these days.

Yes, the Last Dragonborn lived a good life… A fulfilling life… A life to be content with.

But, by the gods, he was so bored with it.

Kravos had only been nineteen -just a boy barely able to grow anything more than a patchy beard- when he was revealed to be the Last Dragonborn, when he slew Mirmulnir, when saw Alduin the first time and, after so many years of adventure, the peaceful life he’d once welcomed eventually turned stale and tiresome.

So he trained future generations of soldiers, bred dogs to create the greatest companions Skyrim had ever seen, performed his political duties with the utmost seriousness, answered every question curious young aspiring author showed up to his doorstep with and watched his all those he knew grow old around him -Balgruuf was gone now and his eldest son ruled Whiterun, Kravos hoped to meet his old friend in Sovngarde when the time came- while he looked for something to alleviate his boredom. 

Aaaaand that is what brought him here.

Of course, where exactly ‘here’ was remained a mystery of the moment. 

Kravos didn’t recognize the small island his manor had landed on, nor did he recognize the settlement he could scarcely make out on the mainland that he estimated to be about two miles away. Though that might because of the thick fog that loomed over the town.

_‘To any other man, this would probably seem quite strange,’_ Kravos admitted to himself. But he was no ordinary man and his life had long since led him to stop questioning such magical events. So, after attaching his favorite sword to his hip and slinging a quiver over his shoulder with its respective bow, he set off to explore what would presumably be his new home.

* * *

A few hours later, with the sun just on the cusp of setting, Karvos had come to the conclusion that the island he landed on held nothing of particular interest; it was small, less than a square mile, and was only more of an islet. He noted a few small animals that looked similar to the birds and rabbits he was familiar with, but they all looked...odd, sickly, and made him very grateful about the hefty supply of preserved foodstuffs stored in his manor. 

_‘I’ll export this one last area, then turn back,’_ he decided, setting out towards an outcropping of rocks that lined the inner east edge of the islet. 

Notching an arrow, he made his way through the small maze of boulders; most only came up to his waste but there were a few piles that cleared the top of his head by a good four feet. Picking through the grass and rock, Kravos managed to find a few interesting plant and stone samples but mostly he just found more nothing. Somewhat disappointed, he turned to leave… only to stop when he heard the faint, but very distinctive, sound of someone exhaling. 

He pulled the bow taut. “Show yourself,” he demanded, voice caring loud and clear through the outcropping. “Show yourself and I will not harm you; I swear that I have no ill intentions to anyone!”

Everything was silent...until there was a faint sob and a small figure emerged from what appeared to be a little ‘cave’ created by boulders stack and pressed together just so.

A child- small, filthy, and painfully thin. 

“Please don’t hurt me,” she sobbed, tears creating clean streaks on her dirty cheeks.

The grandfather in Kravos urged him to immediately sweep the sobbing child into a hug and comfort her… but the father of many adopted children in him was reminded of how guarded and frightened they could be. He had to approach this carefully.

Re-shouldering his bow, he crouched so he was at eye-level with the girl. “It’s alright child, I mean you no harm. Come out please, I can’t see you.”

Kravos kept his voice low and soft with one hand extended towards the child but the girl just shook her fiercely. “Alright, alright. What about your parents then? If you tell me where they are then I can go get them.”

Another head shake. “Mama… Mama is gone and Papa doesn’t… Papa doesn’t want me anymore.”

Kravos’ heart ached with a pang of understanding and anger. "Are you hungry? If you come with me I can get you something to eat.”

The girl seemed conflicted but eventually looked up at him with cautious green eyes, “I can’t walk, hurt my ankle.”

“Oh, is that right? I can carry you then if you don’t mind.”

Another conflicted silence before he eventually got a small nod. Giving his gentlest smile, he went to pick her up but the second his fingers touched the girl back, she winced hard with a loud yelp. 

He pulled his hands away immediately, “What’s wrong?”

“My back, it hurts!”

Kravos went to soothe the girl when he noticed a clear, sticky fluid on his fluids. _‘Pus,’_ he realized. Giving the child a better once over, he took notice of the half-a-dozen large, swollen blisters that dotted her upper right arm and the damp circles on the back of her ratty, sleeveless shirt. _‘Blisters, the ones on her back must have popped.’_

“I’m going to try and pick you up again, alright? But I want to avoid hurting you so can you tell me if you have any blisters on your lower back?”

Wiping the pained tears from her eyes, the girl shook her head, “No, just on the backs on my shoulders and arm. But they all really, really hurt!”

“I imagine,” Kravos nodded sympathetically. “Once we can get to my home I can clean them and wrap them up so they’ll heal up much quicker. 

“You can do that?”

With another nod, he carefully slipped an arm around her waist from her left side and lifted her up so she was balanced on his hip. “Better?”

He was rewarded with a small smile before the girl buried her dirty face into his shoulder. _‘Still, small blessing,’_ Kravos considered even as he registered the unnatural amount of heat the little girl was generating. 

_‘A fever as well? Poor child.’_ he mentally sighed as he started back in the direction of his house, quick as he cool. It wasn’t like the extra person slowed him down at all; the girl scarcely weighted more than a sack of flour. 

* * *

The first thing Kravos did when he got home after plopping the child down on an armchair and locked the front door was to get the poor girl a drink. “Here you go,” he said, handing her the cup. 

She took it but didn’t drink, giving the glass a dubious look. “Is it safe?”

‘What an odd question, she saw get it out of the barrel.’ But rather than voice the thought, he just gave a reassuring smile, “Yes, I always purify my water before drinking it.”

He didn’t even get to finish what he was saying before the girl began gulping down her drink so hurriedly that about half of it slipped down her chin. “Hey, hey, be careful! Small sips, sweetheart, otherwise you’ll get sick.”

The girl pulled the now-empty glass from her mouth with a gasp. “Can I have more please?”

“Of course,” Kravos reassured, smoothing a hand over the girl’s head, fighting a wince when his fingers caught in the tangled mess that was her hair. “It’s in that barrel there, have as much as you want. I’m going to go prepare a bath; we need to get you cleaned up before I can treat those blisters.”

He only got a nod from the girl but it was good enough. He went to the back room of the main hall and retrieved the old wooden tub he used for when his grandchildren were particularly small. Kravos had a far nicer, proper bathing room in the cellar but figured trying to take the girl down there would probably frighten her something awful, so this was an ideal compromise. 

With the right mixture of spells, he filled up the tub with steaming-warm water. Sprinkling some crushed Blue Mountain Flower petals into the water for their pleasant scent and healing properties, he left the water to settle as he went to gather up some items. Going from room to room, he grabbed two bars of lavender soap, a few washcloths, a large towel, a hairbrush, the smallest nightgown he could find with a matching pair of slippers and from his alchemy tower he retrieved clean bandages and a clay pot with a spoon that he set by the lite fireplace to heat what was inside.

Once all was ready, he returned to where he left the girl. “Are you ready for a bath? I promise the water isn’t too hot.”

“I like hot baths,” she mumbled, even as she allowed herself to be picked up once again. Still, she perked up in his arms when she saw the steaming tub. She began stripping down when he sat her on the ground but Kravos stopped her when she was about to take off her shirt. 

“Your shirt is stuck to the open blisters on your back,” he explained. “It’ll hurt when it is removed but I’m going to do it as quickly as possible.”

The girl looked afraid but steeled herself and gave a sharp nod. Smiling at her grit, Kravos set at cutting off the child’s shirt, pangs of sympathy hitting his gut whenever she winced in pain. Once that was done, he scooped her up and placed her in the warm water, careful of her ankle. “Here,” he said, handing over a washcloth and one of the bars of soap, “you wash your legs, privates, and front while I get your hair and back.”

It was quiet work, cleaning a dirty, sickly child. Kravos had bathed many children in his life and knew what he was doing but this was different; he didn’t know this girl, not even know her name, so there was definite awkwardness to bathing this poor, strange child. Gently he washed the open, oozing blisters that festered on the girl’s shoulder blades as he took in her visible ribs and the knobs of her spine. 

_ ‘She looks only a few days away from starving to death.’ _

Kravos massaged soap into the girl’s hair and then slowly, carefully brushed it out; the dirt and grime coming away to reveal hair the color of copper that was brittle and thin. “What is your name, child. My name is Kravos Redwind.”

“I’m hungry,’ the girl said shortly.

‘Alright, that is fair’ Kravos though. “We’ll have supper after your bath. I’ll have to be something light, otherwise, your stomach might not be able to handle it.”

“Okay.”

Once the bath was finished, Kravos wrapped the girl up in the soft towel, leaving only her blistered back and arm uncovered. He picked up the clay pot, taking off the lip to relieve the thick salve made of blisterwort and corkbulb. “I’m going to apply this salve to your blisters; it will feel very hot, but I promise that it will not burn you.”

“Will it hurt?” the girl asked.

The old Dragonborn paused; he didn’t want to frighten her but he also knew that children remembered lies far longer than brief bouts of pain. “Aye, it will likely sting, especially on the open blisters. But the pain will be brief and, after that, the mixture will dull pain and help them heal.” 

“Okay, I’m ready.”

Methodically, Kravos spooned a dollop of the hot salve onto each blister, wrapping each with bandages as the girl hissed in pain. Still, once he was done, she turned to him and smiled, “Thank you for telling me the truth.”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

“Ashe,” the girl stated. “My name is Ashlyn, but everyone calls me Ashe.”


	2. Chapter Two

No matter how much Ashe tossed and turned, no matter how close she pulled the covers, she could not get warm. She turned her face into the pillow under her head, twisting her fingers into the warm dyed-blue wool of a woven blanket, and shut her eyes tight, trying to force herself to fall asleep. But after a long moment, maybe a minute and maybe an hour, Ashe opened them again and sighed, fighting a shiver. The night was not cold, it was mid-spring after all, but Ash just couldn't shake the chill she'd had ever since Mama died.

With another sigh, Ashe sat up in bed and caught one of the many blankets she'd piled on top of her as it slid to the ground. It was soft, as was the bed she was in; in fact, it was probably even comfier than her old bed back home had been.

' _Mr. Kravos must be very rich to have a house this big and fancy,'_ Ashe thought. _'I wonder if he has a TV I could watch until morning? Probably not, I guess it is hard to get power out on a little island like this.'_

A small candle lamp flickered by her bedside, illuminating the darkness just enough for Ashe to be able to make out the five other beds each with a wooden chest at the foot of it that were arranged in a half-circle around the big room, along with the various wardrobes, dressers, and many, many toys. More toys than Ashe had ever even seen.

* * *

" _Whose room is this?" Ashe asked, looking around the room Mr. Kravos had carried her into._

_It was night time now, the full moon barely visible behind the cover of fog that always surrounded Far Harbor; Ashe was just able to get a glimpse of it before Mr. Kravos closed pulled the curtains of the room's windows shut._

_He put her down in a rocking chair and turned to turn down one of the bed's covers, "It was my daughters' bedroom."_

" _You have daughters?"_

_Mr. Kravos nodded, "Aye, five of them. I have sons as well, their bedroom is on the other side of the house."_

" _Oh," Ashe said, taking in the colorful blocks stacked neatly in a corner and the rocking horse tucked neatly between a dresser and a bookcase. "Where are they now?"_

" _Grown, living their own lives apart from me," the nice man answered. "They still visit everyone once in a while though and now their old rooms are used by my grandchildren."_

" _This is a lot of beds."_

" _Well, I have five daughters and six granddaughters, so I needed a lot of beds." With that, Mr. Kravos picked her up again before tucking her in with the practiced ease of someone who'd done it thousands of times before. "Will you be alright for tonight? I can stay until you fall asleep if you'd like."_

" _I'm fine."_

_Mr. Kravos seemed kind and genuine...but so had others before him and it'd been a while since Ashe trusted so easily._

_It appeared he took her answer in stride, simply nodding, "If you need me than my bedroom is down the hall to your left; it is the room with the red door."_

* * *

Then he had just lit the candle lamp, snuffed out the rest of the lights, and left her alone in the darkness, but not before showing Ashe how to lock the bedroom door from the inside.

She did lock the door; even if she wasn't sure it would do much good, Ashe appreciated that Mr. Kravos gave her the option. It would help her sleep, knowing there was a layer of security between herself and the stranger man who'd taken her into his home.

Or, at least, it _should_ have helped her sleep. Even after being tucked under three warm blankets and in the nicest bed she'd ever seen, Ashe couldn't fall asleep. At first, it was because her belly felt weird, all tight and heavy. For a couple of minutes, Ashe panicked, thinking that Mr. Kravos poisoned her dinner… but then she realized that she'd just forgotten what it felt like to be full.

The dinner they shared was nice. Mr. Kravos had served her a big bowl of warm, tasty broth that he said was full of herbs and spices that would make her feel better along with two bread rolls and a tall glass of water that he refilled without hesitation whenever Ashe asked for more. She couldn't eat anything too heavy, he warned, otherwise she might become sick and throw up everything in her stomach; Ashe didn't want that, this was the first real meal she'd had in… wow, at least over a month, but she'd managed to eat the whole bowl in one sitting, soaking the last bits of broth up with the rolls, which Mr. Kravos said was a good sign.

He'd eaten the same thing as her, sitting at the opposite end of his super long table from her. Ashe hoped he just did that to make her feel better and that he'd eaten something else after seeing her off to bed; he was too big for just a bit of broth and bread to fill him up.

After a while, the tightness in her belly stopped and Ashe thought she might finally be able to get some sleep. After all, if she managed to sleep on the cold, hard ground of her tiny cave, why not in a big, comfy bed with a full stomach?

But, of course, that was never actually real sleep. Rather, it was passing out whenever the exhaustion finally outweighed the pain and hunger and fear before she came too, restarting the whole cycle all over again.

The cold began to seep back into her body and Ashe started shivering; she was sick, sick like Mama and Uncle George and Jimmy Howard had been, but she didn't have the bottle caps to buy RadAway or RadX like Jimmy's parents did so Ashe knew she'd was going to end up like Mama and Uncle George. So that left Ashe to do what she could to make herself comfortable until the time came.

She hobbled from bed to bed and gathering up as many blankets as she could carry, stacking them in a mountain on top of her in an attempt to get warm. It was all in vain though; even with a dozen blankets, quilts, and comforters on top of her, Ashe still felt as if she'd been dunked in ice water. What made it all worse, Ashe considered as she pressed a hand into her growling stomach, was that she was now hungry again.

' _The apples,'_ she recalled, remembering the wooden bowl full of bright red apples that had sat in the middle of the dining table. _'Could I take one?'_

She didn't know the rules here. Did she have to wait until morning to eat again? Would she even get breakfast in the morning? Would she be allowed to take her own food? Would she be punished for it? Would Mr. Kravos beat her if he caught Ashe out of bed like Papa had done whenever he found her trying to sneak food?

_**GGGRRRrrrrrr** _

Ashe clutched her growling stomach, _'If he caught me…_ '

She slid out from under the covers, wincing when her toes hit the chilly wood floors, and crept to the bedroom door. Ashe was careful to put as little weight as possible on her left ankle. Mr. Kravos had checked it over and wrapped it in white bandages after declaring it, "Badly sprained, but thankfully not broken."

' _I wonder if he is a doctor? He seems very smart.'_

The hallway was even darker than the bedroom with the only light coming from glowing blue stones that lined the walls every few feet, casting strange shadows on all the weird things Mr. Kravos had as decoration. Ashe slid her hand along the wall as she made her way through the strange house, trying to remember her way back to the staircase.

Evidently, she wasn't doing a great job because, without warning, the floor under her foot when she took a step vanished. Ashe screamed and fell into the darkness below.

It felt like she fell for just a second.

It felt like she fell forever.

But then something grabbed by the back of her nightgown and yanked her back until she landed flat on her butt, sore and scared but safe.

"Ashe? Ashe, Sweetheart, are you alright? What are you doing out of bed?" Mr. Kravos asked, holding up a lantern so he could see her better as the firelight caught in his silver-streaked red hair and beard.

Ashe burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. Through her sobs, she managed to cry, **"I'm… hungry! I… just… wanted… an… apple! Please… don't-"**

Something hot, wet, and rough rubbed against her ears and Ashe shrieked, taking her face out of her hands to scurry away for a big, white monster.

"No! No, it is alright! Calm down, Sweetheart! Rena won't hurt you, I swear," Mr. Kravos comforted as he knelt down and wrapped his arms around her.

Ashe blinked away her tears and squinted into the dim light until the scary monster became a large, fluffy white dog with bright blues and red markings on its face, chest, and legs. The dog took a step closer and lowered its head with a concerned whimper.

"See," Mr. Kravos said softly, "Rena is as gentle as a newborn kitten. Hold out your hand and let her sniff it so she can get to know you."

Ashe was hesitant, she'd met plenty of mean dogs who growled and bit before, but did eventually do as instructed. She reached a small hand out to the animal, palm up like Mama always said to do when meeting someone's pet, and the dog, Rena, gave it a small sniff before licking her palm.

"Look, she likes you already," Mr. Kravos smiled as Ashe giggled. Then he hoisted her up in his arms as he stood up, "Now, let's get you back to bed."

"But I-"

"Yes, yes, I forgot about the all-important midnight snack. My fault, that was a huge oversight," Mr. Kravos reassured as he took her back to the bedroom with Rena's claws clicking against the wooden floor as she followed them. "I'll bring you something once you're back under the blankets, sound good?"

Having no complaints about the promise of more food, Ashe just smiled into his shoulder. That caused him to give a chuckle that then faded into a confused silence. "What is all this all about?"

She blushed when she realized he was talking about her mountain of blankets. "I… got really cold."

There was silence… but then Mr. Kravos just gave a hum of understanding and sat her back down on the rocking chair before beginning to rearrange the covers on the bed. "If you're trying to stay warm then it is actually better to put some blankets under you as well as on top of you; it allows your body heat to circulate better."

"Really?" Ashe asked, even though she didn't really need an answer. "I didn't know that."

Mr. Kravos just gave another hum before picking her up and set her on the bed. "Careful with your ankle now. We'll prop it up and ice it down tomorrow; a few days of that and your ankle should heal right up in no time. How are your arm and shoulders feeling?"

"Oh, better," Ashe nodded. "they don't hurt right now."

Just as Mr. Kravos had promised, her blisters had stung horribly at first but after that bright, hot, burning pain had subsided, the medicine he used had turned them warm and numb.

"Good to hear," he said with a smile, tucking the covers around Ashe. "Now, give me just one quick moment and I'll get you a snack."

And with that, he walked back into the darkness of the rest of the house. Rena stayed though, hopping up on one of the other beds and stretching out like a giant, white house cat.

"Naughty girl," Mr. Kravos chided with a laugh. "You know you're not allowed on beds."

Rena just sneezed and rolled over so she was facing away from her master, who just rolled his eyes and smiled. He turned to Ashe, "My granddaughters spoil her, so she associates this room with having no rules."

Mr. Kravos had returned carrying a small bowl with a spoon and a cup, the latter of which he set down on her bedside table. Then he gave her the bowl, "Applesauce, it's light enough on the stomach but sweet enough to make up for my denial of any desert."

"Thank you," Ashe said, already stuffing a spoonful into her mouth. "Sorry for putting you through all the trouble."

"Oh, it's no trouble at all," Mr. Kravos waved her off, crouching by an empty fireplace and leaning close to it. "Besides, there have been plenty of nights when my kids, and then my grandkids, kept me running back and forth between their rooms all night. So don't worry your little head for a single moment, this was nothing compared to all that frustration."

Then he stepped back from the now roaring fireplace that flooded the bedroom with light and heat. "There," Mr. Kravos said, satisfied, "that should keep you warm."

Ashe let the warmth from the fire rush over her as she continued to shovel the applesauce into her mouth. "Thank you," she repeated.

Mr. Kravos just gave her another soft look. "Will you be good for the rest of the night?"

It took Ashe a moment to answer, remember his previous offer to sit with her until she fell asleep, but eventually replied. "Yes, I think so."

With a nod. Mr. Kravos reached out and looked like he was about to smooth her hair back… but then he pulled his hand back. "Alright then, I'll see you in the morning. Rena! Let's go girl."

The dog gave a snort and refused to move, causing another eye roll. "Are you fine with her being in here with you?"

Ashe gave the dog a sideways glance, being met with a friendly tail waggle and an opened mouth smile. "Yeah, she can stay."

"Alright, goodnight then."

Mr. Kravos closed the door behind himself, leaving Ashe to her thoughts and applesauce. That she finished off quickly, chasing it with half of the glass of the water, and rubbing her now-full belly. It was comfortably full too, not tight and uncomfortable like it had been earlier in the night.

Ashe put her now empty dishes on the nightstand and rolled over so she was facing the fireplace. She stared into the flickering flames, letting the fire's heat wash over her, as she felt her eyelids begin to droop.

' _If I die tonight, that would be okay,'_ she thought, snuggling even deeper under the covers. _'I ate some yummy food and got a nice bath. Mr. Kravos would probably bury me and might even be a little sad.'_

That sounded really nice.


	3. Chapter Three

Ashe was woken the next morning by nothing in particular. The sunlight the broke through the closed curtains of the room was just as pale and weak as any other morning in Far Harbor. There were no bird songs or bug buzzing or animal calls coming from the forest of the small island that broke through her walls of dreamland. No voices or sounds echoed through the giant house either; in fact, if she didn’t know any better, Ashe would think she was the only one there. 

But awoke she did, sitting up and smoothing her brittle hair back from her face. Ashe rubbed her stomach, feeling the boney bumps of her ribs; she was a little bit hungry, but not so much that it hurt. She looked around, the room was empty; Mr. Kravos’ dog, Rena, was gone, leaving just a fur-covered bed where she once was. Then she winced when the soft fabric of her nightgown and bandages chafed against her blisters. 

“Ouch,” she hissed, reaching back to brush her fingertips against one of them before yanking her hand back when the lightest touch caused fiery pain to shoot through her entire back. _‘Will Mr. Kravos give me more of that medicine if I asked?’_

But that made Ashe realize that she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. Was she supposed to wait in bed for Mr. Kravos to come and get her? She wasn’t even sure if he was up yet. Was she allowed to go downstairs and get breakfast whenever she wanted? She didn’t even know where the house’s kitchen was but she would be happy to eat all those shiny red apples she’d seen. Maybe Mr. Kravos was going to bring her breakfast in bed? He did say he wanted Ashe to stay off of her ankle. 

She’d brought Mama breakfast in bed a lot, especially after she’d gotten sick, but no one had ever done it for Ashe.

_‘Mr. Kravos wasn’t angry when he found me out of bed last night,’_ she considered. _‘So he probably shouldn’t be upset if I do it again.’_

That decided, she shoved off the covers and swung her legs over the bed, wincing against the cold wooden floor and wishing she had a pair of socks; Ashe wasn't as cold as she had last night but the fire was dead and there was frost on the windows. Shivering, she looked around the room for something warmer to put over her nightgown, which was so big that the neck hole slid off of one of her skinny shoulders.

A flash of burgundy caught Ashe’s eye and she spotted a robe hung over the back of the rocking chair Mr. Kravos put her down on the night before. Hobbling over, careful not to put too much weight on her sprained ankle, she picked up the robe and rubbed it against her cheek, relishing the feeling of soft, velvety fabric on her skin. 

_‘Mr. Kravos must have left it here for me,’_ she smiled, slipping it on. '

_'I bet it belongs to one of his older granddaughters,’_ she noted, rolling the sleeves up over her hands and glancing down at the robe’s hem that pooled around on the floor around her ankles.

_**Creak!** _

Ashe looked up to see the massive, white-furred head of Rena poke through the door and yipped when she saw Ashe. She gave the dog a scratch under the chin, giggling when it got her a long lick across the face. “Hey there, sweet girl! Is Mr. Kravos awake?”

Rena gave a bark, jumping up and down on her front paws. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she laughed and began limping out of the room, the dog trailing behind her, claws clicking against the hardwood floor. Ashe leaned heavily on the walls as she stumbled to the staircase, plopping down on the top step and frowning. 

_‘I don’t want to scoot down these stairs on my butt like a baby but I guess it can’t be helped,’_ she mentally grumbled, rolling her sore ankle; the wrapping Mr. Kavos put around it had come loose in the night. 

Rena’s wet nose nuzzled at her ear and hot doggy breath blew across her face. Ashe scratched the dog behind her ear, “What’s up, girl?”

The dog shoved her head under Ashe’s arm and nudged her against the ribs, pushing the girl to her feet. “You want to help me down the stairs, huh? How helpful! Let’s go for it!” 

So down the stairs, they went, one at a time; it was awkward, Rena was so big that she barely fit on a step, and slow going. Ashe almost slipped a few times but her tight grip around Rena’s neck kept her from taking a tumble to her doom. Eventually, they reached the bottom and she gave the dog a hug, “We did it!”

“Ashe?”

Mr. Kravos rounded a corner and blinked when he saw her standing there. “I didn’t realize you were awake.”

Wilting under his words, she turned away, “Sorry, I didn’t know that I was supposed to stay in the bedroom.”

“No, no,” he said, shaking his head and his voice softening. “That isn’t an issue at all; I would have come and gotten you earlier but when I checked in, you were still dead to the world so I just put out the robe and let you sleep. But you shouldn’t have gone down the steps, it is dangerous with your ankle.”

_‘Good, he isn’t angry with me,’_ Ashe though, relieved. She gave Mr. Kravos a little smile, “It got down okay, Rena helped me.”

Mr. Kravos chuckled and patted his pet on the head, “She is a good girl, that’s what I bred and trained her to be.”

“What kind of dog is she?” Ashe wondered. At first, she’d thought the red markings on Rena were painted on but, after a close enough cuddle, she knew that wasn’t the case; they were either dyed on or natural and Ashe had never seen any dog like looked like Rena before. 

“She’s a Lakeview Shepherd; it is a breed I created by mating a Karthwolf Shepherd and a White Markarth Bear-Dog. Rena here is actually a grandpup of that original mated pair,” he explained.

“That’s neat,” Ashe said, not really sure what any of that met but it sounded important. “She is a very pretty dog.”

“Aye, that she is- strong, loyal, and protective too.”

Rena was preening under the praise and pets, so she whined when Mr. Kravos stopped and turned to her, “Are you ready for breakfast?”

Ashe rocked back and forth on her feet, “I guess I’m a little hungry, but its no big deal. I can wait if I have to.”

“No need for that,” Mr. Kravos said, hoisting her up to his hip. He was very strong for being an older man, Ashe noted. “I already have the food ready. How do you feel about porridge?”

_‘I don’t know what it is,’_ she thought, but instead shrugged. “It’s okay.”

“It is heavier than the applesauce and broth, so you’ll want to eat it slowly,” he said, putting her down one of the dining chairs before vanishing into what Ashe assumed was the kitchen. He returned a moment later with a bowl and the mug in hand, putting them down in front of her.

“I want to start getting meat into you, along with some fresh fruits and vegetables,” Mr. Kravos seemed to be talking more to himself than her, so Ashe just picked up a spoon and prodded at her breakfast. 

_‘Oh, porridge is oatmeal,’_ she realized, taking a bite. It was good oatmeal too, not like the luke-warm, clumpy stuff Papa used to give her; it was warm and smooth with honey mixed in with small, tangy red berries on top. “This is very good!”

Mr. Kravos nodded but Ashe wasn’t sure he actually heard her. “Maybe if you can keep this down we’ll try some boiled chicken and greens for supper.”

“Sounds good,” Ashe said with a smile into her mug of milk. Watching the man talk to himself was funny.

He gave another strong nod and began peeling an apple for himself. They lapsed into silence for a while, just the sounds of chewing and Rena’s snuffling around the table for bits of food between them. 

“How are your blisters feeling?” he eventually asked. 

Ashe swallowed a bite of oatmeal, “They hurt again, not as much as they did yesterday but I think the medicine you put on them wore off.”

“Not surprising, it has been at least half a day since I applied it; I’ll reapply it after your bath and that should take care of the pain for now.”

“I get to take another bath already?” she asked, surprised. Baths were rare treats and, usually, people had to make do with some boiled water and a washcloth. Maybe things were different if your family had a lot of money or their own water purifiers, but back when she lived in her small farming settlement with Mama and Papa, Ashe got a bath once every two weeks when times were good.

“Yes, of course,” Mr. Kravos blinked at her, looking confused by the question. “Why, do you not want to take one?"

“No… it's just that it seems kinda wasteful,” Ashe replied softly, wondering if refusing would be rude. “I mean, I’m still pretty clean.”

“Don’t go concerning yourself with that, sweet child. Just finish your porridge and milk; I’ll get your bath ready.” He started walking away before pausing and looking back over his shoulder, “Oh, I’ll also grab some clothes for you. Which color do you prefer: blue, green, gray, yellow, or red?”

“Uhhhhh…” A vision of Mama helping her into a little yellow sundress with white flowers on the shirt flashed into Ashe’s mind. “Yellow, I guess.”

“Excellent, it’ll look nice with your hair.”

Ashe’s hand immediately went up to her messy hair and she twirled a lock around a finger. It was so dull and brittle now; that hadn’t always been the case though, she remembered Mama brushing her hair out until it was silky soft and so shiny that it looked like fire when the sun shone on it. 

At least it smelt like flowers now, after Mr. Kravos used that nice soap to wash it yesterday, and it wasn’t a tangled mess either. Maybe she could braid it?

* * *

True to his word, Mr. Kravos had a tub full of hot water waiting for her once Ashe was done eating. Only this time, he left her alone to bathe, explaining now that he was sure that she wouldn’t ‘faint and sink to the bottom of the tub,’ he trusted Ashe to clean herself. 

“I’m just going to be through those doors there, though, so feel free to shout if you need anything at all,” he explained earnestly as he delicately cut the bandages off her arm, ankle, and shoulders after setting out a towel, washcloth, and bar of soap for her. “Call me when you’re done so I can rebandage your blisters and ankle, alright?”

“I’m not a baby, Mr. Kravos,” Ashe grumbled, eager to get into the bathtub; once she realized what she said, however, she winced and peeked up at him through her hair. _‘I hope that didn’t make him angry.’_

Thankfully, Mr. Kravos just laughed and ruffled Ashe’s hair. “No,” he said, “I suppose you’re not. Still, I want you to call me when you’re ready to get out of the bath; if you try to climb out yourself then you might slip and completely break your ankle.”

Ashe gave a solemn nod, “Yes, Sir, I understand.”

With a nod and a pat to the head, Mr. Kravos left Ashe to enjoy her bath, so enjoy it she did. She splashed around, dunking her head under the warm, soapy water over and over again. Ashe scrubbed her hair and body squeaky clean, rubbing so hard with the washcloth that it turned red and sore. She was careful when washing her blisters though, mostly because they flared with pain whenever anything touched them. 

For now, life was good.

* * *

“This is one of my granddaughter, Antosa’s, favorite dresses. Or maybe it's Aniskja’s? I can never remember and they always share clothes anyway, so I suppose that it doesn’t really matter,” Mr. Kravos explained as he helped Ashe fashion the brown leather belt around her waist. Upon seeing her confused expression, he added, “They’re twins, identical down to the last freckle and curl in their hair.”

“It is a nice dress,” Ashe offered, rubbing her fingertips against the soft fabric. The ‘dress’ was actually a floor-length, lavender-blue skirt under a two layers shirt- the bottom being a long-sleeved and dark blue while the outer layer being a short-sleeved yellow wool shirt. She especially liked the while lace that ran along the skirt and shirt hems, even if it was a bit too big for her; Mr. Kravos had even given her a pair of slippers to use so her feet didn't get cold. Still, it felt weird wearing someone else's clothes. “How old are they?”

“Five winters; they are the youngest of all my granddaughters,” he replied, gently pulling Ashe’s hair from the dress’ collar.

_‘A year younger than me,’_ she thought, _‘but they’re bigger.’_

“They spend most of planting and harvesting seasoning with me so they won’t be underfoot while their parents -my son, Blaise, and his wife, Beika- oversee things on their farm,” Mr. Kravos continued. “So I have plenty of dresses and toys for them here.”

“It is nice that you look after them so much.”

“Well, it is more for my benefit than anyone else,” Mr. Kravos chuckled. “They keep me young and hardy.”

“Oh.” No one ever wanted to look after Ashe like that, not since Mama; she didn’t even know her grandparents, they died long before she was born. But she didn’t want to think about that. “How long do you think it will be until my blisters heal?”

“Hmmm,” Mr. Kravos thought, scratching his beard. “They’re drying up, which is a good sign, but it will still be a week or so until they are gone, especially the ones that are still closed. I’m going to see what I can do to prevent scarring but, unfortunately, they’ll probably leave marks.”

Seeing the disappointed look on Ashe’s face, he quickly added, “The pain should only last another day or two, though.”

That made her perk up; it had been almost immediate relief when Mr. Kravos applied that medicine to her blisters, after the initial rush of stinging pain, and now they’d returned to that nice numb, warmth.

Then, without warning, a giant yawn fought its way out of Ashe’s mouth. 

Mr. Kravos cocked an eyebrow as she rubbed her eyes, “Sleepy?”

“Yeah,” she realized, feeling exhaustion sweep over her body. “But I just woke up a few hours ago!”

“Your body is healing and it needs plenty of energy to do that, which it gets from food and sleep," Mr. Kravos said gently. "You’ll likely feel hungry again soon as well. So, how about I wrap up your ankle and then you can take a nap on the couch?”

Ashe, fighting another yawn, just nodded and soon found herself curled up a plush couch in front of a roaring fireplace under a heavy quilt. Her ankle was wrapped by a bandage that was cool to the tough and had been propped up on a pillow. 

She didn’t know how long this was last, how long it would be until Mr. Kravos got tired of looking after her or wanted something in return, but for now, she was warm, full, and comfortable. Ashe closed her eyes, let the heat from the flames rush over her, and drifted off to sleep. 


	4. Chapter Four

There was a problem. 

Ashe’s fever would not break. 

In the week since the little girl had come into Kravos’ care and, in that short amount of time, her health had improved by leaps and bounds. Ashe was eating better now, instead of seven or eight small, light meals a day, she was eating four or five larger, heavy meals and keep them down… usually; Kravos would admit that he’d rushed to get her on solid foods, on eating meats and heavy starches, a little too quickly. After a bad reaction to some boiled chicken and seasoned tomato sauce, he’d decided to stick to soups -mixing it up between vegetables, fish, chicken, and beef so no one got bored- with the switch to heavier stews one the horizon. 

Ashe was also sleeping less, five naps throughout the day had lessened to only about three, each lasting around an hour. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean her sleep was better; Ashe had started waking up with screaming nightmares but whenever Kravos went to check up on her, she’d deny anything was wrong. 

Finally, he was pleased to note that the girl’s body seemed to be healing nicely. The blisters had gone down from a dozen to only three, all still closed and nearly healed; it was a nice sight, even if the healed ones had all left swollen, purple-red scars all over the backs of Ashe’s arms and shoulders, especially the ones that had burst open. But the pain was nearly completely gone, she attested, though the scars were starting to itch. 

Ashe’s color had improved, less pale and the dark bags under eyes had all but vanished. Her ankle was also better; Kravos sometimes say Ashe rubbing it at dinner or after she and Rena roughhoused for a while, but she could walk around the house and climb the stairs with little issue now. 

And yet, despite all this, the girl’s fever  _ refused _ to break.

Now, Kravos knew that fevers were tricky things; well over a dozen different things could cause one -infection, stress, allergies, a common head cold, season flu- and the precise methods of treating them were few and far between.

He also knew that prolonged fever could boil the brain like a crab in a pot.

So he needed to do something soon.

* * *

“We should cut your hair off.”

Ashe pulled from his hands that were brushing out her tangles, turning to stare up at him with tearful green eyes; her tiny hands came up to grip at the thin strands of her brittle red locks. “What?”

Kravos gave himself a mental kick to the head; he knew that he needed to be gentle whenever talking to the girl. “No, no, no. What I mean is… Well, all the hair on your head right now is dead and if we cut it all off then new, healthy hair will grow back quicker.”

The little girl frowned, but it was a thoughtful expression instead of an upset or disappointed one. She turned to a nearby mirror and tugged at one of the tiny braids Kravos had put in. 

“We don’t have to cut it all off at once,” he offered. “We could cut it off at the chin or ears for now and do the rest once your hair starts growing out again.”

Ashe’s small face scrunched up in thought as she tugged at her hair, examining it in the mirror for different angles. A small chunk came away in her hands and the little girl looked down it in dismay, brittle strands clutched in her fist. 

“Can I think about it for a while?” she asked. “Cutting my hair, I mean.”

“Of course, sweetheart,” Kravos replied, smoothing a hand over Ashe’s head, the fever’s heat burning against his callous palm.

* * *

Despite Ashe’s physical health improving by leaps and bounds, her emotional health was still cripplingly low. She’d scamper away whenever Kravos so much as accidentally raised his voice and then run off to hide, sometimes for hours on end. The girl always spoke to him cautiously; it was like pulling teeth to get to ask for anything and, even when Kravos gave her permission to do anything -even something minor like having a snack, getting some milk out of the jug he kept in the kitchen cold chest or a drink from the water barrel or playing with the many toys up in the girls’ room- she’d always be sure to ask again the next day. 

Of course, none of this surprised Kravos. 

Each of his children had been taken in from bad situations and each of them came with their own pains and quirks that were especially raw when they first came into his care. Blaise felt too hot sleeping next to a fireplace, Alestan had a hard time sleeping on a bed, Francios would lapse into days-long silences, Samuel hoarded food, and Hroar had a tendency to bite if Kravos go too close too fast. 

The girls probably had it the worst. Runa, his first daughter, slept clutching the dagger under her pillow. Sofie used to watch him warily out of the corner of her blue eyes and never turned her back to him, reality clearly heaving been a harsh teacher. Sissel had collapsed into a fit of open sobs and wailed apologies when she’d accidentally broken a cup. Lucia was overly eager to help with household chores and insistent on being useful, clearly terrified she’d been thrown out on the street again. Britte had been the worst; vicious, disobediently and combative, the girl had hit and bit and screamed at not only Kravos but the other children. Eventually, it got so bad that he broke down and sent her to apprentice as a blacksmith under Adrianne Avenicci for everyone’s sake. 

Kravos’ felt like a failure as a father when he made that decision, but Britte had thrown hot ash in her twin’s face, put a snake in Samuel's bed, and choked Sofie, only letting go when Runa hit her over the head with her wooden sword. The girl needed a firm hand and more individualized attention that Kravos could give at that point. 

Where was he?

Oh, yes... Ashe.

It would be easier on the girl if there were other children, specifically other girls, were here. Having more little girls around would let Ashe rest easier knowing that she wasn’t alone with some strange old man.

But, alas, that wasn’t an option.

So Kravos would be careful. He’d speak softly and calmly. He’d move slowly and always telegraph his movements. He’d make sure to never come up behind Ashe unknowingly. He’d walk hard on the wooden floors so the girl could hear him coming and Kravos would never surprise her. 

And, hopefully, Ashe would eventually learn to trust him

* * *

“Do you have any family, Ashe?”

“Huh?”

The little girl looked up from the picture book -Gilwara Ulmorine’s  Capturing the Capital Cities of Tamriel \- that she plunked off the girls’ bookshelf and had been pouring over all morning. “What do you mean, Mr. Kravos?”

“Your family,” Kravos asked as he finished washing the last of the dishes. The pair had shared a lovely chicken and potato sew with seasoned bread as a side and apple dumplings for dessert. Ashe had a little trouble near the end of the meal, struggling to finish the last few bites even after he assured her that it wasn’t necessary, but, all-in-all, it was quite nice. “I know you said that your mother is gone and your father is… absent, but do you have grandparents? Aunts or uncles? What about older siblings?”

Ashe scrunched up her face and fiddled with the edge of the page. “Mama’s parents died when I was really little and she had a brother, my Uncle George, but he’s gone too. Papa’s parents live all the way in Bunker Hill and his uncle, Norman, lives in Salem, which is closer to us but he is a _ Bad Man _ ; he visited us once and Mama told me to never be in a room alone with him.”

_ ‘Her father and his family sound like real winners,’ _ Kravos though, hanging up a pot and crossing them off his mental list. “Is there anyone else?”

“No one that I can think of. Why do you ask?”

“Well,” he kept his voice steady and calm, “I was thinking that, after you’re all healed up, you might want to go live with one of them.”

At his words, Ashe just stood him with a blank, ashen face. This lack of reaction caused him to continue forward with his proposal. “It wouldn’t be until you're feeling better, of course, and I’d see you there. I’ll make sure it is a safe place to stay; you won’t be put in a bad situation again.”

More silence and then…

“You don’t want me either,” Ashe cried, green eyes filling with tears. 

_ ‘Shit!’ _

“Nonono,” Kravos denied rapidly, stepping forward with his hands raised as he tried to comfort the girl. 

Alas, it was too late. Ashe all but lept from the chair she’d been perched on and ran upstairs, crying her little eyes out. 

Kravos watched her go before sighing and rubbing his tired old eyes.  _ ‘Great going there, Savior of Skyrim.’ _

Rena huffed and gave him a judgment look.

“I don’t need your criticism,” he snapped, to which the Lakeview Sheppard just flopped down and put her paws over her eyes. 

* * *

A small sniffling came from underneath the display case, the source of which remained hidden by the red velvet skirt that hung down from it. 

Kravos knelt down, wincing as he settled on the hard wooden floor -he really was getting old; gods, he hoped he didn’t live as old as Miraak- and slid a cup of water underneath the curtain. “Here, I thought you might be thirsty.”

He’d given Ashe an hour to work out her feelings rather than go after her immediately; doing that would make her feel cornered and that was the last thing he wanted right now. So he waited, dusted some shelves, stuck the leftover food in the icebox, and then decided to track Ashe down. 

It had been surprisingly difficult to find her; she was small, able to tuck herself into small spaces and Kravos’ house had many, many nooks and crannies to hide in. Using the survival skills undoubtedly taught to be by a cruel, harsh life, Ashe hid away carefully and sobbed her little heart out until all the tears were gone. 

Some of his other kids were hiders too -Sissel, Samuel, Lucia, and Sofie had dozens of spots scattered across his many properties that they’d tuck themselves into whenever things got tense. Hroar, Runa, and Britte were fighters, prone to scratch and bite when upset. Blaise and Francois were climbers in the habit of climbing trees when startled. Alesan, on the other, tended to burrow down when frightened, hiding under piles of laundry or in stacks of hay. 

There was more sniffling but then Kravos heard the sound of messy drinking, followed by gasping and then slower sips of water. 

“Ashlyn,” he said softly, “I didn’t intend to make you upset; I just thought you’d be happier living with someone you knew than a random stranger but I swear that I’ll never force you to go anywhere you don’t want to.”

A whimper. “You promise that I can stay here?”

Her voice was wobbly and meek, like she was scarcely able to allow herself to hope such a thing.

“As long as you wish it,” Kravos said solemnly, “this will be your home.”

“Really?”

Kravos nodded, though he was the only one who could see it. “I swear to it. There will be some conditions, of course, you’ll need to start doing some chores -nothing major, just a little sweeping or dusting- and you’ll need to do small things like make your bed and clean up any toys you use but these are things I expect from all my children. This is only once you get better though, for now, your only job is to heal.”

There was a sob and Ashe crawled out from under the display case, curling up in his lap. “I’m not going to get better Mr. Kravos.”

The words were like an arrow to the brain.

“What do you mean, child?” he asked, pulling the girl close. 

“Do you understanding?” Ashe cried. “I’m  _ sick _ , just like Mama and Uncle George!”

Kravos’ brow furrowed, “Are… are you saying you have a family disease?”

She shook her head, “No, it is  _ poisoning _ , radiation poisoning! It is in me and I’m going to die because the medicine is really expensive!”

The little girl then devolved into more sobs, burying her face in his chest. 

Kravos looked down at the poor child, unsure what to make of what she just said; he’d never in his many years heard of such thing as radiation poisoning but one thing was clear, Ashe was sick and needed to be healed. 

He hadn’t wanted to use any magic in front of Ashe, at least not until he had a better handle on where he was, but with the girl’s life on the line, Kravos had no choice.

“Oh, Ashe,” he said, pulling her into a warm embrace. “I have an idea.”

* * *

The bottle was full of steaming red and white liquid. 

Ashe took it from Mr. Kravos and scrunched up her face; it smelt really bad. Her toes brushed against the wooden bucket at her feet.

“You’re going to want to drink it quickly,” Mr. Kravos instructed, giving a sympathetic wince. “Try to get it down in one go.”

“Will it hurt?” she asked.

“No, I don’t think so...but it won’t be pleasant.”

Ashe looked down at the bottle,  _ ‘This or death? I guess that isn’t really a choice..’ _

Down the hatch.

At first, Ashe just puckered her cheeks at the bitter, unpleasant taste. But then a fire started burning in her gut that rapidly spread through her body and up her throat. 

**_“BLAH!”_** Clutching her stomach, Ashe fell forward and vomited a mass of black slime into the bucket. More and more came until, eventually, there was only darkness.

* * *

Ashe woke to a cool, callous hand on her forehead and Mr. Kravos’ smiling face hovering above her. 

“Your fever broke.”


	5. Chapter Five

**_ THE TWENTY-THIRD PERSONAL JOURNAL OF KRAVOS REDWIND, THE LAST DRAGONBORN: _ **

***

Day One: _ After expelling those mysterious toxins from her body -Note to shelf, consult my medical texts for any reference of ‘radiation poisoning.’- Ashlyn fell into a deep state of unconsciousness. She is completely non-responsive but her heartbeat is strong and her breathing is shallow but steady. Ashe still has a fever though; I hope this doesn’t even up being a horrible mistake.  _

***

Day Three: _ Ashe is still unconscious but has become responsive to things like a tickle to the foot or blowing air onto her face, it seems like the process of expelling toxins was so strenuous on her body, which was already in a dangerously weakened state, that it is now simply in a stage of deep exhaustion. I'm confident she'll awaken, hopefully soon. Her fever carries on, unfortunately, but I believe it will break in the coming days. _

***

Day Four: _ Rena has refused to leave Ashlyn’s bedside. She whines constantly, licks at the girl’s face, nibbles her hand, and I’ve caught her trying to climb into Ashe’s bed; I think she is trying to wake her up. It is adorable but I’ve never seen Rena get so attached and protective of someone so quickly; she never even seemed to be that affectionate with my particularly young grandchildren. What is different about Ashe? _

***

Day Five: _ I have taken to feeding Ashe through rag suckling, mostly water, milk, and broth. Despite being more responsive than ever, I have begun to grow worried that this did more harm than good. Perhaps I should have spent longer researching a different way to help her? This whole situation reminds me far too much of the summer that Alesan, Blaise, Runa, and Sofie all came down with Brain Fever; poor Alesan had it the worst, he was unconscious for almost an entire month.  _

***

Day Eight: _ WHAT AN EXCELLENT DAY! Not only did Ashe’s fever finally break, but she even awoke briefly. Even if it only lasted for a few moments, it was a great relief! _

***

Day Twelve: _ Ashe woke up five different times today for a period of about two minutes each. She has yet to speak clearly but looks around when she hears noises and even nodded and grunted when I asked if she was thirsty. I’ve started stretching and massaging her muscles so they don’t lose what little strength she has gained.  _

***

Day Fourteen: _ Ashlyn’s recovery has been painfully slow but she IS improving. Today, she was awake for nearly a half-an-hour and even spoke a little, mostly yes or no answers. Ashe says she isn’t in pain, which is good, but she also says that she can’t move her arms or legs or sit up under her own power. She can still feel her entire body but says her limbs are just ‘too heavy to move.’ _

***

Day Sixteen: _ Ashe was up for two hours today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Her responsiveness is ever-improving and she was even able to keep down a bowl of applesauce, though she needed to be spoon-fed. This, and the sponge baths, seem to grind on Ashe. I suppose it makes sense; she only just started to regain her strength and is now bedbound once again.  _

***

Day Eighteen: _ It has gotten to the point where Ashe can sit up, completely close her fists, and stay awake for three hours. This is all good news, of course, but I’m worried the effect laying around on her back so much will have on her blisters and hair.  _

***

Day Nineteen: _ Ashlyn has taken to throwing a ball across the room for Rena to chase after. It is a good way for her to build up strength once more -Note to self, remind Ashe to alternate between the arm she is throwing with; it won’t do her any good to have one arm stronger than the other- but I’ve already lost count of how many things that dog as knocked over since this had started. Still, it could be worse; between Blaise, Samuel, and Hroar I’ve replaced twelve windows and that sum went up by quite a bit when Lyon and Caicius decided to take after their fathers. Not that the girls were innocent, of course; Runa broke plenty of things with her wooden sword, I put out many fires started by Sissel playing with fire magick, and most of my granddaughters are just plain old hellions. Glatea is the worst, but I suppose being born into the royal family will do that to you.  _

***

Day Twenty: _She can stand now but only while holding onto the bedpost for support and we’ve decided to put off trying to walk for now. Apparently, the worst part of being stuck in bed is the boredom. I suppose it is time to break out that old story; hopefully, it can entertain Ashe as much as it has the others._

***

Day Twenty-Two: _ Ashe stayed awake for ten straight hours today, an accomplishment for sure, but the girl is getting restless. She has been demanding AT LEAST three stories a day; I’m happy to oblige, of course, as it reminds me of the old days but I still wish there was a way to keep her more entertained. _

***

Day Twenty-Three: _ It took a while, but Ashlyn has finally started to feed herself once more. Not solid foods but soups, applesauce, and soft fruits are better than nothing. It was hard watching her though, it took her nearly an hour to eat one bowl of chicken soup. I pretended not to be watching, but I can tell that she is frustrated by her own weakness. I can relate, I've been in similar situations.  _

***

Day Twenty-Four: _ I was hesitant to do so after the violent reaction Ashe had to the last potion I gave her, but, after careful consideration, I’ve decided to risk giving the girl something that will speed up the healing process. It will be a minor healing potion, nothing too heavy, and I’ll mix it in with her supper the hope for the best. I am thinking venison stew tonight.  _

***

Day Twenty-Five: _ Ashe walked from the bed to the door and back again for the first time. I believe that is a cause of celebration -Apple Pie and Cream for supper it is! _

***

Day Twenty-Seven: _ I had to replace a window. Magick is truly a life-saver. I’m not angry but Ashe feels guilty and dealt with that by lashing out at me. Children are so small and yet their emotions are so large, sometimes they have nowhere to go but out.  _

***

Day Thirty: _ It has been a month, a long and HARD month, but I think the worst is behind us. Ashe was able to walk to the staircase, down them, and then back up again. It tired her out but she is at least back to where she was before. I think that I will finally be able to sleep soundly again. _

* * *

It was funny that despite being technically healthier than she’d been in at least a year, Ashe had never felt weaker or more terrible in her life. 

Ashe had been sick before, she’d even been  **_SICK_ ** before, but never so much so that she’d been unable to lift a cup her mouth, let alone get out of bed. Okay, so maybe she was strong enough to stand on her own two now, but trying to walk just a couple of steps from the bed had her falling flat on her face. 

Who knows how long it would be before she could run around again? She’d lost track a while ago -day and night had little meaning when your life was just an endless cycle of sleep for who knows how long, wake up and eat a little, then fall back to sleep- but by Ashe’s own estimate, she’d been like this for at least two weeks. 

_ ‘It has probably been longer than that,’ _ Ashe acknowledged to herself,  _ ‘but I’m not really sure I want to find out.’ _

Mr. Kravos gave a courtesy knock before pushing the door open, a tray with a bowl of soup (god, she was getting _so_ tired of soup), something to drink, a roll of bread, and what looked like a small pastry in his hands. 

“How are you feeling, Ashe?” he asked, helping her sit up and balancing the tray across her lap. 

“ **Bored!** Just like yesterday and the day before and the day before _that!_ ” 

The old man laughed, “I thought you might say that, so I’ve decided to break out something very special to keep you entertained.”

She cocked her head to the side, trying to ignore the small wave of nausea the action caused. “What is it?”

Mr. Kravos said nothing, instead pulling the rocking chair over until it was by her bedside and then, with great flourish, drew a small book with an extremely worn leather binding out of his pocket.

“A book?” she asked, eyebrows growing up. Ashe liked a good story as much as anyone else but Mr. Kravos made it to be something super epic.

“That's right,” Mr. Kravos nodded, “ A special book. You see, when I was your age, this was the book my father used to read to me when I was feeling sick or sad or scared, and later I went on to read it to all of my children and then all of my grandchildren; this is even the same copy my father used. So today I'm gonna read it to you."

It was nice to be put on the same level as the man’s children and grandchildren. No one had cared for her like that since Mama had died. “Well, what is it about?”

“Oh, all sorts of things,” he said, pulling a small pair of spectacles and balancing it on his nose;  _ ‘It makes him look like a giant owl,’ _ Ashe thought with a grin. “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, tragedy, pirates, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”

Ashe poked at her soup; it was something with fish and a lot of onions. “That doesn't sound too bad, better than just sitting around doing nothing.”

“Well, thank you very much, very nice of you to say,” Mr. Kravos said, jokingly rolling his eyes, as he settled back into the chair. “Your vote of confidence is overwhelming. Now, listen to the brilliance of The Lost Lady's Love and _shhhhh..._ ”

Mr. Kravos seemed to enter a weird trance as he opened the book and thumbed to the first page. Ashe relaxed back into the small mountain of pillows he’d given her -the blisters on her back barely hurt anymore- and closed her eyes, letting his voice wash over her. 

“Daisy Dunlain was raised on a small farm in the region of Rivenspire, many days' ride from the capital city of Shornhelm…”

* * *

Ashe took careful aim, pulled her arm back, and let the small ball fly as Rena, who’d been bouncing excitedly on her front paws, took off after it while barking her head off. It soured through the air, threw the open doorway, and out of sight; she heard it ‘thunk’ against a wall before bouncing off and rolling down the hallway.

She gave a sigh and crossed her arms; now she had nothing to do until Rena brought that ball back. After breaking the window, she was surprised Mr. Kravos even let her have the ball back -saying it was a good way to improve her arm strength and hand-eye coordination- but, after over a week of playing around it, challenging herself by trying to throw it in certain directions or distance, Ashe’d grown bored with it.

She’d grown bored with **_EVERYTHING!_**

Mr. Kravos had a lot of awesome stories about all sorts of things -dragons, noble heroes, magic, fierce yet beautiful heroines, fantasy lands, dashing rogues, ghosts, wise leaders, epic battles, dastardly villains, swordfights; Ashe often got the feeling he was gentling the stories for her sake, but she got that and had ever taken to filling in the blanks herself- and was always more than willing to entertain her with them when asked, but even that had grown dull. 

Ashe had found herself growing short-tempered recently; anger would come like a flood of red-hot fire and she would scream at Mr. Kravos for something as little as saying she couldn’t have apple juice with dinner or nearly hitting poor Rena when the dog snored too loud. 

She didn’t want to be angry and she didn’t want to be stuck in bed anymore. 

Tears began tickling at the corners of her eyes and Ashe hiccuped, trying to hold them back, when there was a knock to the door. 

“Come in.”

Mr. Kravos came in, ball in his hand. “You’ve started getting good distance with this thing; I found it near the top of the stairs.”

Ashe sniffled and rubbed her face, “I was trying to get it downstairs.”

“A noble task,” the older man nodded before cocking his head to the side, staring at her with a concerned look. “Is everything alright?”

“No- _Yes_ \- I… I just…” 

Ashe sighed, unable to finish, and dropped her face into her hands.

Mr. Kravos gave a sympathetic hum. “I have an idea that might Would you like to learn to juggle?”

* * *

"Could you tell me a story?" She asked, getting comfortable as Mr. Kravos tucked the blankets around her. Ashe didn't feel as cold as she used to, only needing three blankets to keep her warm; that was nice, at least. 

"Of course, sweetheart," the old man said with a smile. "Do you want to hear something new or one of my classics?"

Ashe gave it a moment of thought; it was really tempting to ask to hear The Lost Lady's Love again. It was such a good story but she'd asked for it five times already.

"Hmmm, I want something new," she decided. "I want something kinda scary; it doesn't have to be a long story or anything, but I want it to be surprising. I want it to have a twist."

Mr. Kravos looked unsure, "You're a little young for a scary story, Ashe."

She scowled, "I think things are scary enough for me that I can handle a little story, don't you?"

He didn't look completely happy about it, but Mr. Kravos gave a reluctant nodded. "Alright, I suppose that is fair... but don't go blaming me if you can't sleep tonight."

Ashe gave an excited nod as the old man took his place in the now ever-present rocking chair. 

"Now, this is something that happened with one of my daughters, Runa...

She woke me very late one night. My family and I were staying in the city of Markarth because, horrible place it may be, I had buisness there. It was summertime and she came into my bedroom to wake Anwen-"

"Anwen?" Ashe cut in. "Is that your wife?"

"No, I never married," Mr. Kravos shook his head. "Anwen was one of several... companions I've had over the years. She worked at a temple in the city so, whenever I was in Markarth, we'd... spend time together. Now be quiet and listen..."

"She came into the bedroom late at night and woke Anwen and I up. At first, I was angry because it had been a long day; I had picked her up from the home of her friend, Adara, where she'd spent the previous night, and she threw a massive fit, so she was sent to bed without supper. 

I went to scowled her but before I could, she tugged at my shirt sleeve and whispered, "Papa, guess how old I'm going to be next month."

"I'm not sure," I replied as I struggled to wake up. "How old?"

I knew how old she'd be, of course; though being woken up in the dead of night had definitely made me confused. 

She smiled and held up eleven fingers. It has been decades and Runa still refuses to tell me where she got them."

It took a moment for the ending of the story to sink in but, when it did, Ashe shivered. "Oh... that _was_ scary. But it was just a story, right?"

Mr. Kravos said nothing, just waggling his eyebrows at him in a joking manner, and then reached down to pull the covers up under her chin. "It is time for bed."

Ashe considered asking him to stay until she fell asleep... but she wasn't ready for that yet. 

* * *

After the anger subsided, the tears came. Sometimes they would sit heavy in her hearts and eyes all day, Ashe could just imagine a dark rain cloud hanging over her head, and sometimes they would come quick and hard. She'd stumbled while walking her laps around the bedroom -Ashe still couldn't bring herself to call it her bedroom, the idea still felt scary; no matter what Mr. Kravos said, there was always the possibility the man would grow to think of her as an annoyance or burden, like Papa always said she was, and throw her out.- or spill her drink on the floor and just burst into tears, crying for what felt like hours. 

Today it was her hair.

Over a month had passed since Ashe had stopped being sick and, while her hair had grown longer, it still wasn't any healthier. It was still thin, stiff, and brittle, sticking out from her head like red-colored straw. To make this worse, it still came out in clumps whenever she so much as brushed it. 

"Mr. Kravos," she sobbed into the man's chest, "I want to cut my hair! I want to cut it all off right now! Can we cut it right now? Please?"

"Yes," he soothed, rocking her in his arms. "Yes, of course."


	6. Chapter Six

_ Snip. Snip. Snip. _

"Hold your head still, Ashe," Mr. Kravos instructed, callous fingers firmly, yet gently, straightening her head as he clipped away a couple of uneven locks of hair. "Squirm too much and you might accidentally lose an ear. Kidding! Kidding!"

He added the last part when he saw her eyes go wide with fright.

"Don't you worry," he comforted. "I've cut enough hair that I could probably knit myself a whole new set of children and grandchildren."

Ashe met his eyes in the mirror, "And you've never cut anyone?"

"I've never drawn blood."

"That doesn't make me feel better!"

Mr. Kravos laughed, "There were a couple of mistakes in the beginning, I'll admit, but the worst thing that really happened is that my oldest daughters got really bad hair cuts for the first few years. The boys were easy; I just cut it really short until they were old enough to care for it themselves -which is a sign of manhood where I'm from- but I had no idea how to care for little girls' hair. I remember the first time I cut my Sofie's hair and, even though she said she liked it, the next day she went to the mother of her friend, Mila, to get it fixed. I got better though."

"I suppose you needed to," Ashe considered. "It would have been easier if you had a wife."

"Yes, probably," Mr. Kravos nodded, a touch of sadness entering his voice, "but sadly it wasn't to be."

Ashe looked down at the piles of dry red hair that had already been clipped off and left to fall to the floor like little embers on the wood. Though she'd been hesitant about the hair cut, Ashe would admit that she felt better; her head felt lighter now and the breeze coming through an open window tickled her exposed ears. 

"There we go, it's done!" Mr. Kravos declared, brushing the back of her neck off with a towel and removing the sheet he'd wrapped around her. "What do you think?"

Ashe ran her fingers through her hair, it had been cut short around her ears and now stuck out around her head like a little lion's man. It was still brittle and there were patches where the hair was thinner than it should be, but it did look a lot nicer.

"I like it," she said with a smile, tugging at one strand. "Thank you."

* * *

After being back on her feet, Ashe, ironically, found herself bored.

_ 'Such a weird problem to have after everything,' _ she acknowledged. 

And it was. After surviving abandonment, exposure, a couple of close calls with anglers and the other many dangerous animals around in this little island and Far Harbor as a whole, people who looked at her like she was dinner, dehydration, starvation, and radiation poisoning the idea of simply not having enough to do seem liked an extremely mundane problem. 

But, strange as it was, that didn't change the fact Ashe found herself bored with the many toys and picture books. The thing about most toys is that they only really stayed fun if you had someone to play with; dolls were best enjoyed with friends, after all. Even if the ones here were far nicer than the crude straw creations Mama had given her and Papa eventually sold but they still couldn't play with her.

Mr. Kravos might have been more than willing to play with her if she'd asked, but -despite everything he'd done for her- she still didn't feel comfortable asking him to do something so indulgent and childish. He still told her stories every night; sometimes long, winding epics that stretched over a week while some were quick, quirky tales that left Ashe giggling so hard that her sides hurt. There were the scary stories too, but Mr. Kravos hadn't told her one of those since she'd woke up screaming from a nightmare about trying to cross a fog-covered bridge and hearing a crying baby while a half-man/half-ram monster chased her down with an ax. 

Rena was usually there for a fun wrestling match or game of tug-of-war or a chase or some fetch but sometimes she went out for long 'walks' with Mr. Kravos or would just need some time by herself. Mr. Kravos asked if she wanted to go on these walks but Ashe knew far too much about the vicious creatures that roamed about to think that was a good idea. 

_ 'He doesn't seem too worried about them though,'  _ Ashe realized. _ 'Mr. Kravos doesn't seem to be scared of anything.' _

She'd never seen anyone like that before; even the scavengers or mercenaries that used to roll through her small settlement always slept with their guns by their sides and never went out at night if they could help it. Yet Mr. Kravos always walked around like they were completely safe here in this massive house on this tiny island. 

_ 'I hope that is the case,' _ she worried, peering out a window to the fog-covered ocean and rocky shore of the island. 

But all of that still left her with the problem of being bored.

Ashe had spent the past few days exploring the areas of the house she'd avoided so far, still afraid that the slightest misstep would get her thrown out like trash. That wasn't to say she'd seen all of it yet, of course, there were a couple of locked doors that sealed off different corridors, rooms, and towers; Mr. Kravos had given vague mention to some of them, said that one contained dangerous objects and another held valuable books, for example.

If anything, these vague answers only made Ashe more curious about the secrets of Mr. Kravos' home... but she also knew better than to try and sneak into places that she was clearly not supposed to be; after all, that would be impolite and Mama had always taught her to be a good, respectful girl. Ashe also wasn't sure how Mr. Kravos would react if he found her snooping; he'd never gotten angry with her before, not when she yelled at him or broke a window while playing catch with Rena, but she also had never outright disregarded one of his rules before.

But...there was no rule that said she couldn't go into the unlocked library, was there? 

_ 'If there was Mr. Kravos would have told me, right?' _ Ashe though. _ 'Or least locked it up himself. Yeah, it'll be okay.' _

There was a large shelf of books in the bedroom full of beautiful picture books, illustrated stories, and somewhere full of math problems. She'd gone through all of the pictures books, probably five times each, and spent longer than that staring out the words of the storybooks, trying to will the words into making sense. But they never did and now she was hoping to find something new. 

The open library was a curricular room with bookshelves lining the walls and a large, plush armchair in the center. Ashe walked around the room, running her fingers along the leathery binding of the books before eventually deciding on a thick, heavy brown tome with a gold border. She climbed up into the armchair, setting the book in her lap and opening it to the first page. 

> _ In the  _ **_shtlahevyd_ ** _ of the year, Prince _ **_Oapnrgfs Paevut_ ** _ , son of Prince  _ **_Meahu Paevut_ ** _ II, who is son of the  _ **_Wahbkoi Agijep_ ** _ , who is the niece of the great  _ **_Xcilopt Qazed Paevut_ ** _ , came to the  _ **_Dfgi_ ** _ Rock city- _ **_cvbnm_ ** _ of Plmoki to pay  _ **_rfvgy_ ** _ to the  _ **_edcyhnik_ ** _ of King  _ **_Xswcdevf_ ** _.  _

Ashe was able to read some of the words, more than she thought but less that she'd have liked and she was forced to struggle through the first couple of pages before slamming the book shut with a huff. 

"Oh, Ashe, there you are," Mr. Kravos said, poking his hand through the doorway with Rena by his side. "Find something to read?"

"Kind of," Ashe responded hesitantly. "Is that okay?"

"Sure, no problem," he shrugged. "What book is that?"

She held it up so the front cover was exposed.

"Oh, The Wolf Queen Vol.I; it is a good series but a little intense for someone your age. How are you liking it?"

Ashe blushed hot with embarrassment and ducked her head. "It is alright, I guess..."

She was clearly not that impressive of a lier because Mr. Kravos just frowned and gave her a soft look. "Ashe, can you... read?"

"...A little," she reluctantly admitted, forcing the words out through her teeth. "I know my letters and numbers; I can write my name and read small words... but that is it. Mama died before she could finish teaching me."

"Oh," Mr. Kravos said, "that is understandable. Would you like me to finish teaching you?"

"You could do that?"

"Yes, of course. All of my children came to me at different stages in their education and I taught them all a great deal before things calmed enough to send them to a schoolhouse."

Ashe lept to her feet, "Can we start right now?"

Mr. Kravos gave a warm smile," That sounds wonderful. The first thing we'll need to do is establish what you know and what we need to catch you up on. Why don't you down to the dining room? I need to grab some supplies and I'll meet you there shortly. 

* * *

"Alright, sweetheart, it is time to test your progress," Mr. Kravos said for his seat across the table. He set a book down in front of her, "I want you to try reading this; you don't have to do the entire thing yet, just try to get through the first page."

Ashe reached out, letting her fingers curl around the end of the book's cover as she tried to read the title, sound out the words in her mind. ' _ K...Klob and the Drag...dragon. _ '

"I'm not sure I can do this," she said, shaking her head hurriedly and pushing it away. 

"You'll do fine," Mr. Kravos encouraged, sliding it back towards her. "You've made amazing progress in only two short weeks. Just sound out any words you struggle with and I'll be right here to help."

The gentle words calmed Ashe even as she nervously gnawed at her lip and, after a moment of hesitation, she opened the book.

"K... Kolb-" she looked up at Mr. Kravos who smiled and nodded at her pronunciation. "-was a brave No... Nord war...ri...or. One day his Chi...chie...f asked Kolb to slay an evil drag...on that-" 

Ashe froze at the seemingly endless word before swallowing her fright.  _ 'This is isn't anything to worry about,'  _ she told herself firmly. _ 'After all, long words really aren't any different than short ones; in fact, most are just a couple of short words stuck together.' _

She steeled herself and glared down at the word, daring it to trip her up. "-th...rea...ten...ed their vill..village. "Go through the m...ou...n...tain mount...ain pass, Kolb,” his Chief said. "You will find the Dragon on the o...ther side."

Having reached the end of the page, Ashe's heart soared with excitement and she looked up at Mr. Kravos who beamed with pride. 

"I did it!" she exclaimed.

"You did," he nodded. "And very well, I might add. So well, in fact, that I think you deserve a reward. Now, what do you want for dessert tonight? Pick anything you'd like and I'll make it for you."

Ashe's eyebrows flew up and her face split into an even broader smile as her mouth began to water. She knew that Mr. Kravos was an excellent cook -especially since Ashe was finally able to eat most of the food he made; no some soup and applesauce for her... hopefully ever again- and she was eating better now that she'd even been before, even when Mama had still been alive. That fact that she could have dessert every night instead of maybe once a year if it'd been a good harvest had nearly made Ashe cry. 

"Hmmm," she wondered out loud, thinking through all of the delicious treats Mr. Kravos' had made for her over the past weeks. "What about those things you made last weeks? I think you called them...crosettes?"

"Do you mean to crostatas?" he asked, to which she nodded. "Okay, I can do that. No problem; I was planning to make chicken dumplings for dinner and they'll pair rather excellently together. Do you want juniper crostatas or ones with snowberries?"

"Which did we have last time?"

"Snowberry. I prefer using them because their natural tartness offsets the sweetness of the sugar used."

"Those then, please,” Ashe said as she went to work straightening the materials they used during her lessons. Many loose pieces of paper covered the tabletop, most covered with oversized, shaky attempts to write out the alphabet which, when she'd mastered that, morphed into attempts to write out different simple words like cat, wolf, water, strong, mother, and house. Other pages were filled with crude arithmetic, mostly just one digit addition and subtraction. 

Mr. Kravos had her write with some weird kind of pencil - he said it was made from charcoal- that was hard to write with because it made the words all smeared and got everywhere, including on her hands, face, and clothes. 

She fiddled with the book again. "What kind of book is that?"

"Oh, it is quite fun," Mr. Kravos called back from the kitchen. "It is called a Choose Your Own Adventure book; you're given choices at different points in the story and have to turn to different pages that correspond with those choices. There are many different endings you can get depending on what you choose but it is hard to get the good ending when Kolb defeats the dragon. I've used that book to teach all my kids to read; because there are so many different paths you can take, it never got boring for them."

"Did you use any other books too?" she asked, thinking back to the many books in the bedroom. 

"Sure," he replied. "Sissel and Francios especially liked these two books of riddles, though that is probably what resulted in their mutual love of puns, and Sofie loved  A Children's Anuad. There were other books two but those were the main ones. As they got older, they moved onto the main library; I had to keep my copy of The Lus -"

He trailed quickly and, though Ashe couldn't see his face, she was sure the man was blushing with embarrassment. Not that she knew why.

_ 'Adults are weird,' _ she thought. "Can I help make the dumplings? I want to learn."

"That would be great!" Mr. Kravos said, turning to face her with a wide grin. "I started cooking with my mother when I was about your age. Pull a chair over and wash your hands then I'll show you how to make the dough."

* * *

Later that night, with a belly full of chicken dumplings, snowberry crostatas, and apple juice, Ashe pulled The Wolf Queen Vol. I out from under her pillow. 

> _ In the au...tum...n..tide of the year, Prince _ **_Oapnrgfs_ ** _ Sep...tim, son of Prince Ur...ie...l Sep...tim II, who is son of the Em...press _ Agijep _ , who is the niece of the great Em...per...or Ti...ber Sep...tim, came to the High Rock city-s...t...ate of  _ **_Plmoki_ ** _ to pay c...our...t to the da...guh...ter of King  _ **_Xswcdevf_ ** _.  _

_ 'Good,'  _ she thought, _ 'I'm getting a lot better, it is just the names messing me up now. The names from where Mr. Kravos grew up are really weird. Still, I'd like to see it one day.' _


	7. Chapter Seven

"Kolb s...wung his axe as hard as he could, but the g...hos...t hard...ly seemed to no...tice. The gho...st d...rift...ed into Kolb, and a deep sleep took him over, from w...hi...ch he never a...woke."

Ashe slapped the table and slammed the book shut, letting out a trusted growl. "I died again! Why is this so hard? Am I the idiot or is Kolb? If he keeps dying so many stupid ways than I doubt he'll be a good dragon slayer!"

Mr. Kravos chuckled, "All my children said the same thing, so much so that I even tried it out myself and, I'll admit, it is harder than I thought. Still, try not to get too frustrated; remember, we're just using it as a way to practice your reading."

"Well, considering how many times I've read it, I'll never for sure never forget any of the words in it!" Ashe declared.

"That's not necessarily a bad thing," the older man noted. "When you think about it, we really only use a few hundred words in our day-to-day lives and most of them are small, simple ones like 'the' or 'and' which is why continuing to practice the basics is so important."

Ashe had never considered that but, after giving it a moment of thought, decided he was right. "I guess so... but Kolb is still dumb for dying so much."

"Be that as it may, we'll still be revisiting him tomorrow; maybe that will be the day you both triumph over that dastardly dragon," Mr. Kravos said, taking the book from in front of her. "Now, to wrap up our reading lesson you still need to read me a passage from one more book; pick any that you'd like."

Biting at her lower lip, Ashe scanned the small selection of reading books on the table before narrowing in on one, in particular, pulling it from the stack.

"The  Yellow Book of Riddles ? Oh, that is a good choice," Mr. Kravos noted with an approving nod. 

Ashe felt a tick of pride, this was one of the books that two of his children -Sissel and Francios- loved and she wanted to be as good as them so Mr. Kravos would love her too. 

She flipped it open to a random page and took a deep breath, tracing a finger down the page. 

"If you l..ie to me I will s...l...ay you with my s...word. If you tell me the t...ru...th, I will s...lay you with a spell. 

What m...u...st you say to stay a...li...ve?"

Ashe glanced up to Mr. Kravos from feedback.

"Excellent," he said with a smile. "I know that I keep saying it but you really _are_ getting better every day."

"I feel smarter," Ashe admitted with pride. "I feel like I've really accomplished something major."

"You have," the old man assured, giving her hand a comforting squeeze, "and don't you ever forget it. Now, to finish up your lessons for the day I want you to write out five things you like and five things you don't like then attempt to do the sums problems on this-" he opened the big book of arithmetic to a random page, giving it a quick glance over "page. I have work to do but when you're done just knock on the door so I can check them over, alright?"

Ashe nodded and watched him go into his back 'office'. Now that she was feeling healthier and was more about to look out for herself, Mr. Kravos seemed to work a lot, vanishing into one of a dozen locked rooms for hours at a time; she wasn't sure what he worked on and never asked but he'd always came out without issue or annoyance if Ashe knocked on the door. 

When she heard the door to his back-most room, the bottom floor of a large tower, close and sighed, pulling a pencil and blank sheet of paper close. Tapping the pencil against her chin, she began to write,

_I like dogs._

_I like Mama._

_I like apple juice._

_I like hearing stories._

_I like baths._

_I do not like cats._

_I do not like rain._

_I do not like the cold._

_I do not like nightmares._

_I do not like Papa._

She tried her hardest to write neatly, keeping her sentences straight and not smudging anything; it was only partly successful but Ashe finished the paper confident that Mr. Kravos would be impressed by her work. 

Then she turned to her math work and sighed, this was _definitely_ her least favorite part. 

* * *

"So, how do you feel about spicy food?"

Ashe shrugged, most of the people she knew used spices to hide the taste of food going slightly bad and that was it. To be honest, the idea of having preferences for specific types of food was really a new concept for her. Most of her life she ate what she was given and was grateful for it, knowing that she was lucky to almost always get at least one meal a day. Ashe thought certain things tasted better than others, of course, but that was it. Choices were a new part of her new life with Mr. Kravos and, despite what he said, she didn't want to allow herself to get comfortable with it.

"I guess I like it well enough. Why?"

"I'm thinking of making a chicken and vegetable dish for supper that has a sweet and spicy sauce but I wanted to check with you first," Mr. Kravos explained, pulling a chair up to the kitchen counter so she could stand on it and help him prepare the meal as had become the new norm.

"That sounds yummy," Ashe offered, helping to drag over a large bag of rice. "How can I help?"

Mr. Kravos put a pot on the stove and handed her a measuring cup. "First off, put a cup of rice in here, then three cups of water, and then put the lid on so it'll boil faster. The rice will be the base of your supper; it'll fill our stomachs right up."

Ashe did so, being extra careful to level everything. "Okay, now what?"

The old man looked up from the chicken he was grilling with butter on a skillet, nodding towards where he kept the vegetables. "Can you get me one cabbage, one onion, one clove of garlic, and five leeks?"

Ever the dutiful helper, Ashe went the 'cold chest' where Mr. Kravos kept his fresh foods. It was a large stone thing that was built into the floor; coming up to her mid-chest and with sides at least an inch thick, it was hard for her to wrestle the lid open.

"Can you get it?" Mr. Kravos asked over his shoulder. "Do you need help?"

"I'm fine," she called back then, with a deep grunt of effort, finally shoved the lid open. "Ah-ha!"

Ashe smiled as a blast of cold air washed over her. _'How does he keep it cold? This doesn't seem like it is hooked up to electricity. In fact, why doesn't he just use a refrigerator? Does Mr. Kravos even have a generator?'_

It didn't seem so. She'd never seen one and, now that Ashe thought about it, nothing in the house that she'd seen ran on electricity. He used candles, lanterns, and weird bits of glowing blue stone for lighting, there was no radio or television, all the cooking stuff in the kitchen was wood-burning, and just about every room had a fireplace for heating. 

_'Wierd,'_ Ashe gave a mental shrug, brushing it off. Plenty of people didn't have power and Mr. Kravos still had the nicest house she'd ever seen. 

_'Still,'_ she thought, gathering up the requested vegetables, determined not to make more than just one trip, _'it would be nice to be able to watch some television... or at least listen to the radio.'_

"Can I help chop stuff?" Ashe asked hopefully, eyeing the sharp knife laying on the cutting board hopefully. 

Mr. Kravos gave a chuckle, "That would be a no, Little One; maybe when you're older."

_'Older,'_ Ashe turned the word over in her mind carefully. _'He said 'when you're older'... which means he wants me to stay.'_

"Ashe?"

The little girl blinked, the call of her name shaking Ashe out of her daze. "Hmm?"

"Everything alright?"

She gave a quick nod, "I'm fine." Then she looked towards the food. "Where did you learn how to cook so well?"

"Well, my mother owned a bakery in Wayrest; it was one of the best in the entire city, everyone said so," Mr. Kravos explained as he carefully chopped the leaks. "I had no sister, no siblings at all, so Ma passed all of her secrets down to me; she taught me how to make all sorts of buns, loaves of bread, rolls, and cakes during the day so I could help her manage the shop. Then, at night, she taught me to cook stews, roast different types of poultries; why, I must have learned a thousand recipes for fish from her. Say, who do you feel about fish pie?"

She didn't get the chance to answer; the way her nose scrunched up at the idea spoke for itself though and Mr. Kravos burst out laughing. 

"I've never been a fan of it myself," he admitted. "Anyway, my father was an old-fashioned type of man and wasn't too thrilled with me learning so much 'woman's work' even if he knew it was important but Pa was a soldier and was gone often so he didn't get much of a chance to complain."

"So your Mama taught you to cook?" 

"Aye," he answered, a warm smile spreading slowly across his face. "I have many fond memories of helping her in the kitchen and selling sweet rolls to customers; it taught me a lot about patience and how to talk to people."

Ashe tried to picture what Mr. Kravos' mother must have been like. She decided that the woman was probably tall, like a queen, and also had his red hair too; she probably had a kind face with soft eyes and smelt like flour. 

"I have a painting of my parents," the old man, who always seemed to be able to read her mind, offered. "I can show it to you before bed if you'd like?"

"I would," Ashe nodded, carefully checking on the rice. "Did you teach your children how to cook too?"

"Yes, some of them. Sissel, Lucia, Francios, Samuel, and Blaise all liked learning but Britte, Sofie, Hroar, Runa, and Alesan didn't have the patience. The grandchildren vary; some like to learn, some just like to watch, and some find the whole thing boring... though all of them eat like you wouldn't believe! "

Ashe watched as Mr. Kravos stirred all of the chopped up vegetables into the pan he'd been grilling the pieces of chicken in, adding in some water and a thick sauce from a jar. "Well, I like learning," she offered.

"Aw, that's good to hear," he said, reaching over to ruffle her hair. "I like teaching. In fact, I made sure that even the kids who didn't like cooking knew how to at least make the basics; it is an important skill to have. There-" Mr. Kravos declared, putting a lid over the pan, "- now we just wait for this to boil down, and then we can eat!"

Ashe smiled, broad and bright, "Great! What about dessert?"

"Hmmm," the old man rubbed his face, before snapping his fingers as inspiration seemed to hit him. "I've got an idea; I think it's time to try something new -Thrice-Baked Gorapple Pie!"

"What's that?"

"You'll like it; it tastes a little different than regular apple pie, a touch tarter, but it's good," Mr. Kravos explained, already gathering up the ingredients. "How would you like to learn how to roll pie dough?"

"I'd love to!"

* * *

"So what else did you teach your children?" Ashe asked as she helped Mr. Kravos was the dishes. "Besides cooking and how to read and stuff, I mean."

"Oh, all sorts of things," he replied with a shrug. "Hunting, first and foremost; Hroar took to it most of all, though Blaise and Runa weren't far behind. I also taught them how to protect themselves; they'd had such hard lives, I was terrified someone else would try to hurt them in the future."

"Anything else?"

"Plenty, I like to think. I had plenty of Lady friends and companions to help but I really had to be both mother and father, which included teaching things sewing and cleaning."

_'I must have been nice to have a father so devoted,'_ Ashe thought, thinking back to her own Papa's drunken rages. They hadn't always been incredibly bad; Mama used to be able to control him but after she died, it became unbearable. "You are a really good father, Mr. Kravos; they were lucky to have you."

The old man gave a bashful grin. "Aw, thank you."

* * *

Ashe was only kinda right about Mr. Kravos' mother. She was a tall woman, yes, -or, at least, that is how it looked in the painting, especially since she was depicted sitting down- and a soft, motherly face but she had strawberry-blonde hair and big blue eyes that seemed to pop out from the faded color of the framed painting. 

"That is my mother, Belladiana," Mr. Kravos said, reaching out to trace the frame. "One of the kindest, strongest, and most cunning people I've ever met, even after all these years."

"She's beautiful," Ashe offered, staring up at the painting; it wasn't a big thing, only about a square foot and was clearly old with scratches and stains. She nodded towards the man standing next to Mrs. Belladiana. "Is that your father, the one who read you the story?"

"Aye, good old Mercard Redwind," Mr. Kravos said with an amused chuckle. "A hard man, in a lot of ways, but a good husband and father. A fantastic military commander as well; I learned a lot from him."

Ashe eyed the red-headed little boy in the painting while Mr. Kravos followed her gaze. 

"That was me," he said, confirming her suspicions, "Many, _many_ years ago."

"Are they...?"

Mr. Kravos nodded, "Ma died only a few days after I turned seventeen, absolutely broke my heart. I tried for another year to keep her shop open but it just didn't feel right so I eventually turned it over to my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Pa had died a few years earlier when I was fourteen so there was nothing left for me there; he wasn't a rich man but he had the ear of several important individuals and that got him killed."

Ashe felt her eyebrows shoot up, "Wow!"

"Mmhmm," the old man sighed, "that is the way things are in High Rock and, while part of me will always miss my childhood home, it was a large part of why I decided against raising my children there."

The little girl paid with a lock of her slowly growing red hair, comparing it to the shade of Mrs. Belladiana. _'It's a little too bright but the color is close enough, I suppose.'_


	8. Chapter Eight

"Hey, Mr. Kravos, what is in this room?"

Ashe started up at the large wooden door, bigger than just about any other one in the house, that had a painted design of a red-leafed potted plant and a large, heavy-duty metal lock. Over the past few weeks, she'd steadily been exploring more and more of the closed rooms in the manor -with Mr. Kravos' permission, of course- but she hadn't been inside this one yet. 

" _Hmm?_ Oh, that is my greenhouse." Her guardian looked from where he'd been dusting off various knick-knacks on a high shelf. 

Ashe had been assisting him in this task but the door had drawn her attention. She tucked her feather duster into her elbow and squinted at the lock. _'Greenhouse? Like for flowers? Why would a bunch of plants need to be kept locked up?'_

"Can I go in and look around? I like flowers and stuff."

Mr. Kravos' face did that little twist it always made when he was about to say no to her. "Well... I'm not sure if that is a good idea."

"Please!" she pleaded, giving her best puppy-dog eyes. "I grew up in a farming community; I _know_ how to take care of plants. Mama even kept a little garden with some flowers and I used to help her with them."

Papa had always said that tending to those few delicate little buds that sprouted each spring was a waste of time and energy, said that because the flowers couldn't be eaten they were of no use to anyone. Mama disagreed -always quietly though, so as not to anger Papa- and would tell Ashe how the flowers symbolized life and rebirth. She believed that as long as flowers still bloomed there would be hope in the Commonwealth. So, even after Mama died, Ashe did her best to keep the garden going; she'd labor for hours each day until she got too weak to do so. 

_'It's probably all dead now,'_ she thought, _'there is no way Papa looked after the flowers.'_

Then Ashe winced, hating herself for even thinking such a thing.

"It's not that I don't trust you, Sweetheart, it is just that I grow more than flowers in my greenhouse," Mr. Kravos explained. 

"So, like, fruits and vegetables and herbs?"

That would explain why they always seemed to have a steady supply of fresh food. Not the meat though, Ashe still wasn't sure where that came from. 

"Yes," the old man nodded, "I grow all of that, but I also grow plants that produce toxins that can hurt you and that need to handled with care."

Ashe rolled her eyes, something she never would have done a month ago, "So I can't even _look_ at them?"

The question stumped Mr. Kravos, who gave it a long moment of thought. "Alright... I suppose that is okay. Keep your hands in your pockets though; don't go touching anything and listen to what I say. Got it?"

"Yep!" She chirped back, bouncing on the balls of her feet and making a big show of shoving her hands down deep into the pockets of her red skirt.

Mr. Kravos chuckled at her antics and pulled the heavy ring of keys from his belt, each with a different colored ribbon tied around the head; sorting through them, he eventually selected one identified by a dark green ribbon and slid it into the lock. The door opened and Ashe was hit with a humid wave of warm, earthy air. 

"Now, you stay over on the right side of the room for now; there isn't anything dangerous over there," the old man instructed, waving her in. 

Ashe nodded absentmindedly as she took in the large space, eyes wide with wonder. It was a big rectangular room that was absolutely filled to the brim with planters big and small, flower pots, containers, and cupboards with shelving and decorative mounted animal heads, some of which Ashe had never seen before, lining the walls. A glance upwards at the wooden rafters with long strands of moss hanging down as well as bird nests, butterflies, little bugs that little up brightly, beehives, and small buzzing bees. 

In one corner there was a large stone fountain of water and around its base were several wooden buckets and metal watering cans. There were several panes of thick glass built into the ceiling which let thin, weak beams of sunlight shine through onto the large planters. From the rafters also hung large chunks of the same glowing blue stone used to provide light to the rest of the house. 

"Wow," Ashe breathed, tilting her head back to look at as much as possible. Of course, this meant that she wasn't watching where she was going.

" _Oomph!_ " 

She stumbled forward, one hand rubbing her stomach where she'd run right into the rim of a large flower pot and the other catching herself with a hand in the damn dirt. 

"Everything alright?" Mr. Kravos called from where he was examining some nearly fully grown cabbages. 

Ashe ripped her hand from the dirt and stumbled back, "Sorry, I didn't mean to touch it!"

"Ashe, it's okay! Those are just flowers; I don't mind you touching them," he reassured, holding a hand up to calm her. 

"Oh... okay."

She turned back to the yellow petalled plant and leaned forward, giving them a sniff and basking in the sweet scent. "What kind of flowers are these?"

"They're called Dragon's Tongue; if you brew them with tea they're held make your body stronger, though they add an odd tangy taste to everything," the old man hummed. "Oh, if you want to help out some then could you water that planter there? Just pull out one of those watering cans, fill it up in the fountain, and douse them real good."

"Sure, no problem."

Ashe picked up the first one she could grab but, when she went to fill it up in the fountain, something caught her eye -scratched into the side was a name.

 _'So...f...ie,'_ she sounded out in her mind. "Sofie?"

"Huh?" Mr. Kravos looked up and saw the watering can she was holding. "Oh, yes. Sofie loved helping me in here; she had quite the green thumb, could make flowers grow in even the coldest, rockiest soil. I was honestly surprised she didn't become an alchemist or herbalist when she grew up."

Ashe put the watering can back down and grabbed one of the buckets instead. It was a petty thing, to be jealous of a girl who was grown and gone and with children of her own, but more and more Ashe found herself growing upset at any mention of Mr. Kravos' children or grandchildren. 

_'I know that they're no threat to me and I know most of them came from the same position I did,'_ Ashe thought, as she filled up the bucket, _'but I can't help but think that Mr. Kravos will always compare me to them.'_

Forcing those nasty worries from her mind, Ashe dragged the bucket -it was really heavy; she probably shouldn't have filled it up all the way- over a planter full of red, blue, purple, and yellow flowers. 

"What are these?" She called over her shoulder. 

"Mountain Flowers," he replied. "They come in four different verities, each with different properties, but the yellow ones are the rarest. For a long time, it was actually thought to be impossible to cultivate them by hand -you had to find them in the wild. Sofie worked on it for years but she eventually found a way to grow them in a planter; even now, they're her pride and joy. Her children even joke that she loves those flowers more than them."

Ashe fought the urge to frown as she watered the plants; she did take special care to distribute the water evenly though -they were very pretty flowers, after all, and they smelt nice. 

"When you're done with that, come over here; I have something to show you."

At those words, Ashe let the damp, empty bucket clatter to the floor and skipped over to Mr. Kravos. She hadn't noticed it before, but the furthest back part of the left half of the room was sealed by a large glass wall with a double-locked door. Ashe peered through the glass, taking in the rows of plants that were each contained in their own glass containers and sealed away from the outside world. 

"This is where I store the most dangerous plants; some of these other ones out here could hurt you if you ate them but some of the plants could kill you if you even breathed too close to them," Mr. Kravos explained gravely. "What I'm saying is that you must _never_ go in here, Ashlyn. I have to wear special protective clothing when I tend to these plants and it is _still_ dangerous for me. Do you understand?"

‘I bet Sofie was allowed to play with them,' Ashe internally pouted. But she still nodded and said sweetly, "I understand, Mr. Kravos; I won't touch them."

"Excellent," the old man grin. "Now, do you want to help me harvest some of these carrots for supper? I think of making Falkreath Meat Loaf; it's an old specialty of mine, I might add."

"Sure, I can do that. Hey, do you have any books on plants that I could read?"

* * *

"There was a time when it would be _con...sid...er...ed trea...son_ to pick one of these grapes without _ex...press per...miss...ion_ from the Emperor himself. It is my _un...der...stand...ing_ that _al...though grow...ers_ in _Sky...rim_ were _suc...cess...ful_ in _im...prov...ing_ the fruit's _sur...vi...va...bil...ity_ , it came at the cost of _fla...vor_. No longer is it quite the prize it once was. And yet, growing _a...mid...st_ the _vol...can...ic tun...dra_ of _East...march_ , it is still _im...mense...ly_ useful for _con...coct...ing po...tions_. It is still valued as it can be _com...bined_ with simple _gar...lic_ to _en...han...ce_ the _re...gen...er...at...ion_ of _en...er...gy_. While no longer _again...st_ the law, picking these grapes in large _a...mounts_ is best kept to oneself."

"Very good, as always," Mr. Kravos nodded warmly. 

She smiled, keeping her eyes down on the page she'd been reading. The book, Herbalist's Guide to Skyrim by Agneta Falia was a thick tome and clearly well-loved or, at least, well-used; she'd watched the old man thumb through the worn pages, seeing that there were many marks made in dark ink with notes scribbled in the corners and words or entire sentences blacked out. 

The page about the Jazbay Grapes wasn't as marked up as the others had been, only a few words crossed out with what she realized was fairly fresh ink. 

"What did you mark this up?" she asked, holding up the book. 

" _Hm?_ Oh, some of the information was out-dated, biased, or just plain incorrect," Mr. Kravos explained, taking a pause from peeling the carrots they had just harvested. "It's a pretty good source of information for beginners but I'm hoping to write my own textbook on the subject; that is what all the notes are for -they're my thoughts of what should be included. I was actually planning on starting it soon, maybe within the month."

"That's neat," Ashe offered; but even so, she frowned as she ran her fingers over a section of blotted out words that still felt somewhat damp to the touch. _'Why was this covered up?'_

"Perhaps not the most glorious addition to my legacy," Mr. Kravos admitted with a chuckle, going back to the carrots, "but I believe that the education of future generations is as noble of a goal as any other."

"You'll write the best textbook ever," Ashe declared with utmost certainty. "I can't wait to read it!"

" _Aww,_ aren't you sweet," the old man reached out to ruffle her slowly growing out hair, careful not to nick her with the peeling knife. "Most of my kids keep telling me I'm getting boring in my old age; Sissel still appreciates my brains though. Maybe I'll make you into my writing assistant; it would help with your reading and writing skills."

With a rush of pride and embarrassment, Ashe slinked down into her chair and decided to change the subject. "This book says that Jazbey Grapes aren't as good as they used to be, but the ones we've been eating are plenty sweet. Why is that?"

"That is a little complicated," Mr. Kravos replied. "We've been eating Skyrim Jazbey Grapes, which _are_ a bit tarter than the ones in High Rock, where I'm from, but that is only comparatively -the ones I grew up eating were as sweet as honey and just about _anything_ would be tarter than that. To be completely honest, I think these are a little better for cooking with -their taste isn't so overpowering- which is part of the reason I keep a healthy crop of them growing."

"What else can you use them for?" she asked, propping up her chin in her hand and settling in for one of Mr. Kravos' 'stories.' They weren't real stories, of course, but the way he talked -the way his smooth voice washed over her- made Ashe feel like she was listening to an old fairytale. 

"Oh, many things," he started. "They can be used in baking, of course, you can use them to make syrups and jellies or jams; Lucia always loved jazbey syrup on her griddle cakes. Some people also make juice but I've always found it to be far too sweet -Francios liked it though, at least when he was young. The berries are also used in making cloth dyes, creates a lovely indigo color. Grinding the berries into a pulp and mixing that with soil is an excellent way to re-energize it; a friend of mine, Avrusa Sarethi, swears by this technique when cultivating something called Nirnroot -which is almost impossible to grow by hand. The leaves are also quite good in certain dishes; I'll make you some stuffed grape leaves one of these nights."

"Leaves? You're going make a dinner out of _leaves?_ " Ashe piped up, wrinkling her nose; from her place by the fire, Rena lifted her head and gave a low whine at the mention of food. 

"Oh, hush. I'll feed you soon," Mr. Kravos jokingly scowled his dog, who gave an annoyed huff, before turning back to Ashe. "The grape leaves are just what gives the dish its flavor; the base of it is some sort of meat; I usually like to use poached fish."

"Sounds... nice," Ashe said, shifting in her seat and trying to be convincing about it. 

She clearly failed but Mr. Kravos just laughed anyway. "It tastes good, I promise," he chuckled. "But I'll make sure there is something else to eat if you don't like that."

 _'To think, I can actually turn down food in favor of something else now,'_ Ashe thought, still somewhat flabbergasted by the change her life had taken. 

Giving her head a brief shake to clear those thoughts away, she smiled sweetly at her guardian. "Can we have some boiled creme treat for dessert? I want to learn how to make the creme."

* * *

"Far too often, _no...ble vis...it...ors_ from _Cy...ro..diil_ see little more of Skyrim than the _vi...ew_ from their _carr...i...age_. To be sure, this _co...arse_ , _un...civ...il...ized pro...vince_ is far from _hos...pit...able_ , but it is also a place of _fi...er...ce_ , wild beauty, with grand _v...is...tas_ and _in...spi...r...ing nat...ural_ wonders _a...wait....ing_ those with the will to seek them out and the _re...fine...ment_ to truly _app...reci...ate_ them. If you are of a mind to see Skyrim for yourself, I _re...com...mend be...gin...ning_ your _ad...ven...ture_ as I did, by seeking out Stones of Fate."

Ashe slowly made her way through the first paragraph of the book she swiped from the library before being sent off to bed, An Explorer's Guide to Skyrim. It was a heavy book and full of a lot of words that she didn't know but she was determined to read it all.

 _'If I learn more about Mr. Kravos' home than I can adjust better when he decides to go back,'_ she reasoned, never once letting herself think about the horrible possibility that the old man would leave her behind.


	9. Chapter Nine

It started with growls in the night. These growls were deep, guttural things that rolled over the small island, piercing the thick walls of Mr. Kravos' house and putting Rena on edge. Ashe would watch the Lakeview Shepherd pace through the house, sharp teeth bared and hackles raised; rather than sleeping in the bedroom with her, the pooch had taken to spending nights directly in front of the main entrance. 

"Why is she doing that?" she'd asked Mr. Kravos, eyeing Rena who, at this point, had been aggravated for nearly a week.

"She is guarding us," he explained, a deep frown on concern lining his face. "Rena believes there is something dangerous out there and is doing as she has been taught."

"There is always something out there," Ashe whispered to herself. 

That had been one of the few pieces of good advice Papa had ever given her. 

_"There is always someone or something out there that can get you, Brat," he explained once in-between sips of alcohol, "so don't ever let your guard down."_

Mr. Kravos reached over and pulled her close to his side. "You'll be alright," he reassured. "Just make sure you stay close to me or Rena; don't leave the house if one of us isn't with you."

_'That'll be easy, I haven't left the house in months,'_ Ashe thought to herself. "Of course, Mr. Kravos."

Later that night, once the growls started again, Ashe would duck under the covers and push a pillow down over her head in a hopeless attempt to drown out the sound. 

_'Go away. Go away. Go away.'_

That was the lullaby she chanted to herself until she fell asleep. 

* * *

  
  


"I gave you a sock, not un...like a box,

With hamm...ers and nails all a...round it,

Two lids open when it k...nocks."

  
  


Ashe peered over the book, " _Hhhmmmm_ , what do you think the answer is, Miss Sally?"

She was obviously too old to believe the doll with yellow yarn hair would respond, she wasn't a baby after all, but, by this point, Ashe was honestly bored enough to return to the childish habit of talking to her dolls.

"Oh, it looks like the answer is -It must have been a great hit. Now that was a fun riddle, wasn't it?"

Miss Sally just stared back, painted blue eyes unblinking. The two other dolls she'd brought down and set up at the dining table also stood with their friend in silent solidarity.

_'I wish there were more kids around,'_ Ashe mentally sighed. Part of her felt bad for complaining, even in the safety of her own mind. Considering what she had come from and what she knew other children lived like, this was paradise but even her own guilt couldn't change the fact she was _LONELY._

_'I mean, Mr. Kravos and Rena are great and all but they aren't friends -they're my new... guardian and his dog.'_

**_WHAM!_ **

Speaking of Mr. Kravos, Ashe all but jumped out of her seat when the old man thundered through the front door, slamming it closed and pulling the safety bar across. His loud stomps and the obvious anger radiating off of Mr. Kravos' body had shivers of fear creeping down Ashe's spine as she fought the urge to hide under the table. 

_'He'd never hurt me,'_ she reassured herself, digging her fingernails into the wood of her chair and keeping her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the man. 

Mr. Kravos, oblivious to her fears, gave a low growl of frustration and rubbed his forehead. Then, finally, he realized she was there; taking in the three dolls Ashe had set up, he smiled broadly, "A tea party, eh? My girls had those all the time, used to rope me and their brothers into playing along too -Lucia used to make the best tea. Actually, she still does... good for the vocal cords."

Ashe gave a little grin, already feeling herself blushing in embarrassment. "I guess I've been getting a _little_ lonely. Rena hasn't been playing with me as much... plus, she is a dog."

"That she is... still smart them plenty of men that I've met though," Mr. Kravos chuckled, giving her hair a ruffle. Then he turned somber and thoughtful, "However, you _should_ probably have more companionship than just an old man and his dog. After all, it's not good for a little girl to be all alone. Maybe I should just find more orphans to take in?"

Ashe felt her eyes go wide at the suggestion; she never meant to imply he should do anything that and, quite frankly, Ashe didn't want to share Mr. Kravos' attention with anyone... selfish as that was. 

Seeing the look on her face, Mr. Kravos cracked another grin. "You're right, that's probably not the greatest idea. Still, I wouldn't be averse to finding some live-in help, maybe a single mother with some young children who needs employment and a place to say. It wouldn't be the first time I've hired someone on for a similar arrangement, especially when my own children were young."

Ashe knew it would be easy to find someone like that in Far Harbor but her own possessiveness kept her from offering that bit of information. Instead, she merely asked, "What has you so upset?"

"Oh, right..." Mr. Kravos sighed, dropping down heavily into one of the chairs. "Something got another one of our chickens last night."

"Another one?"

"I didn't want to scare you so I didn't say anything but for the past week two -and now three- of the hens I keep have disappeared," the old man explained. "I thought I had them all locked up tight but I guess not. I found some blood and feathers but there wasn't a body, I'm guessing it got dragged away."

"Oh, that isn't good," Ashe said softly, her mind whirling before- "Wait? We have chickens?"

Mr. Kravos looked surprised by the question. "Yes, of course. I keep a flock of eight... well, there are only five now. Where did you think all the eggs we've been eating came from?"

Ashe had assumed they were seabirds' eggs, gathered from all the nests that dotted the rocky outcrops of their tiny island. Chickens were rare and, as such, extremely expensive. Only one of Ashe's neighbors at the farming community had one and they guarded it far more fiercely than they did their three children, it was actually something of a joke among all the community children. To have eight... hell, to even have five seemed like a ridiculous indulgence. 

"Can I see them?"

* * *

"Keep your hand flat and say as still as possible," Mr. Kravos instructed, pouring some feed into Ashe's palm. 

She crouched down and reached her hand out towards one of the chickens, nose wrinkling at the bad smell of the chicken pen. It took a while but, eventually, one of the feathery creatures took a cautious step towards Ashe, it's head bobbing as it moved. It moved slowly but soon enough...

" _Ouch!_ "

Ashe yanked her hand back to her side, shaking it and flinging feed everywhere as the chicken ran off. "That hurt!"

Mr. Kravos fought back an amused chuckle, "Their beaks can be rather sharp. That one there-" he pointed to a large one with a rather spectacular set of tail feathers "-enjoys pecking at me whenever I go to collect the eggs; she likes to go for the eyes, so watch out!"

Ashe eyed that particular fowl suspiciously, edging away from it. 

"Collecting and cleaning off eggs was never one of my children's favorite chores, they used to bet against one another to do it. It did teach them responsibility though, whenever Sofie visits she makes her children do it as well... we've dealt with a lot of temper tantrums over that."

Ashe found herself giggling at the thought. _'I guess I do like hearing some stories about Mr. Kravos' family.'_

She took a deep breath, inhaling the cool sea air through the chicken stink. This was the first time she'd been outside in... wow, in so long. Though Ashe was still afraid of what was out there -the night-time growling still hadn't let up in the slightest- but the feeling of the grass and dirt under her feet was amazing. 

_'I can't believe I'd forgotten what this feels like,'_ she thought, bouncing up and down on the feet as the moist dirt started to give way. _'I used to play outside all the time with my friends.'_

Her friends... Sherry Thompson, Isaac Moore, Francis Gull, Missy Tyler... It had been so long since she'd seen any of them. Ashe wondered how they were doing. Were they okay? Did they ever think about her or wondered where she'd gone? Their community had been a fairly safe one but bad stuff always happened. 

"Alright, Ashe, its time for you to go back inside and do your schoolwork." 

“ _Awww_ , but-”

“I know, I know. How about I make you a deal? If you write at least sixteen sentences about what did today, you don’t have to do any mathematics work for three whole days.”

Writing sixteen sentences was a lot of work but if it got her out of doing math… “Deal!”

Mr. Kravos laughed and passed her a basket of eggs. "Take Rena with you and start thinking about what you want for supper. Oh, and don’t forget to lock the front door, just the key lock."

"But what about you?" She asked, not wanting to go alone but also not wanting to leave her guardian without his loyal canine protector.

"Oh, don't you worry- I'll be fine."

There was that smile again, the private little one that Mr. Kravos always seemed to do whenever he thought she wasn't paying attention. The one Mr. Kravos always did when he seemed to know something she didn't. 

It was frustrating, but Ashe could acknowledge that all adults did that. Adults knew a lot, some of it kids weren't ready to learn about, but that never made it less annoying. 

_'Especially since I'm smart,'_ she grumbled to herself. _'Mama and Mr. Kravos always say so.'_

But, reluctantly, Ashe just nodded and left the chicken enclosure; it was a big thing, a large half-circle area of grass sealed off from everything else with a thick stone fence that was twice as tall as she was. Any animals inside should have been well-protected but...

_'They just managed to slip out,'_ Ashe told herself. _'They're birds, they probably just flew over the fence and got gobbled up.'_

That being said, she all but ran around the house and to the front door as Rena raced alongside her -the dog’s powerful strides easily keeping up with the young girl’s tiny legs. Ashe rushed inside, Rena and slammed the door behind her, leading against it with all the weight in her tiny little body as she locked the door while Rena pressed tight against Ashe’s legs. 

It was embarrassing, but Ashe hated the idea of being alone outside. She was stronger now, yes, but she was still small enough to be snapped up by any number of monsters. Ashe eyed the door suspiciously; it was made from thick wood and plenty heavy so it was probably sturdy enough but you could never be _too_ cautious. 

Place a hand on her chest, Ashe closed her eyes and breathed slowly as she tried to calm her racing heartbeat. Rena whined, nosing at the girl’s hand; she scratched the dog behind the ears and smiled. "It's okay, it's okay."

Deciding to distract herself, the tiny red-head started the _loooong_ process of dragging the heavy truck where Mr. Kravos had been keeping her learning materials to the dining table. Sure, she could have just made a couple of trips but that would take forever. Everything set out, Ashe smoothed out a piece of semi-crumpled paper and picked up her favorite charcoal pencil, beginning to write as Rena curled up at her feet and under that table.

  
  


_I had eggs and apple sauce for breakfast._

_I decided to wear a green dress today._

_I decided to not drink milk with breakfast today._

_I dusted some bookshelves._

_I bushed Rena's fur, she didn't like it._

_I combed my hair, it is finally growing out._

_I tried to braid it but it is still isn't long enough._

_I bit my nails again, I'm trying to stop._

_I ate some chicken and rice for lunch._

_I asked Mr. Kravos for some apple pie too but he said no._

_I was upset by that._

_I felt better when he gave me some apple juice though._

_I decided to play tea party since l was lonely._

_I used three dolls I found in my bedroom._

_I also read them some riddles out of a book._

_I did very well and only messed up a few times._

_I haven't been sleeping well, the growling has been keeping me up._

  
  


Satisfied, Ashe put her pencil down and read over her work. 

_'Oops, that is one too many sentences,_ ' she realized, scratching out the last one. It was a bit of an embarrassing admittance anyway and Ashe didn't want Mr. Kravos thinking that she was a big baby.

But with that, Ashe packed up her school materials -putting the dreaded mathematic book at the bottom and burying it with just about everything she could find- and went to clean the charcoal dust off. 

_'So messy,'_ she thought, cleaning away the dark smears in the cool, sweet-scented water of a washbasin. _'I wonder why he just doesn't have any pens or pencils.'_

**_BANG!_ **

Ashe lept a good foot in the air as the front door rattled. Rena was on her feet, hackles raised, immediately and she let out a loud, dangerous growl that Ashe could feel in her chest. Fighting the urge to flee and hide under her bed, she took a step forward and -very bravely, in her opinion- called, "Mr. Kravos? Is that you?"

There was no response.

There was no... _anything_. 

Hours could have passed with Ashe staring the door down and, eventually, even Rena seemed to finally relaxed. Though every hair on her body was still standing on end, Ashe decided to take her queue from the ever-loyal pooch and tore her eyes away from the door -Mr. Kravos had asked her to pick something else for dinner. 

In the kitchen was a shelf of books, each full of yummy recipes. One of them, a heavy red-bound thing that she'd been asked not to touch, once belonged to Mr. Kravos' mother and her mother before it. 

_"One of my most prized professions," he had explained._

So, instead, Ashe pulled a slim blue book down and set to thumbing through the pages until something caught her eye. 

" **Mush...room and Veg...e...table Ri...so...tto** : Ver...s...ions of this dish can be found all a...cross Tam...ri...el, but using four ty...pes of Bal...more...an mush...rooms can give this dish a special re...gi...on...al flav...or. This dish is also pop...u...lar in Skyrim, where its stick-to-the-rib qual...ity makes it a common dish from farmer's cott...age to Jarl's hall. After all, in a land of per...pet...ual winter, every...body needs a bowl of warm com...fort food from time to time." 

" _Mmmm_ , that sounds-"

**_RAAAAAHHHHHHH!_ **

  
  



	10. Chapter Ten

**_RAAAAAHHHHHHH!_ **

The deep, guttural roar seemed to rattle the building itself, shaking the glass panes of the window about the kitchen sink. Ashe dropped the cookbook in fright, running and diving under the dining table to hide. She tucked herself into a little ball and Ashe clamped her hands over her ears in a desperate attempt to drown out the sounds of roaring from outside. 

But there were more sounds too; Rena was growling and barking her furry white head off as she desperately scratched at the front door, trying to get out. Ashe usually found comfort in the dog's presence but now she sounded absolutely vicious and it actually made her scared. 

**_"FUS RO DAH!"_ **

Even more so than before, the house rattled with an absolutely massive _**BOOM** _and Ashe felt her eardrums pop. Rena immediately stopped her scary behavior and whined, turning tail to run and join Ashe under the table. She pushed herself into Ashe's side and the little girl immediately forgot the fear she'd just been feeling towards the dog, instead opting to bury her face in Rena's fur as she waited for the house to be blown apart by some terrible monster. 

That never came thought; Ashe wasn't sure how long she stayed curled up in her fearful little ball, trying her hardest to ignore that the sounds from outside. But, eventually, all the noise seized and she felt the tense muscles in Rena's strong body relax as the dog perked up; this shift in her furry friend's demeanor led Ashe to, almost unwillingly, drop her guard. 

Slowly, Ashe unfolded herself, even as she remained extremely alert to all sounds around her; she crawled forward, lifting up the edge of the long tablecloth to stare suspiciously at the front door. 

' _ Everything seems clear but-' _

**_BAM!_ **

Ashe all but lept back, being in such a rush to scramble backward that she fell over her own limbs and wacked her head hard on the wooden floor. Pain shot through her body and she was seeing starts, a thick wave of nausea rushing up her throat. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rena shoot out from under the table like a fuzzy bullet.

"Hey girl, I'm alright."

She’d never heard Mr. Kravos sound so... tired, so  _ drained  _ before, even the few times she'd accidentally woken him up with a screaming nightmare. 

"Is Ashe okay?"

Rena yipped and there was the tell-tale sound of her nails clicking against the floor as she jumped up and down in joyful excitement. 

"Of course she is. I knew you'd take good care of her," Mr. Kravos said, his voice soft but full of warmth and pride. "Ashe must be hiding right now. Can you do me a favor? Go keep her company while I get patched up, I don't want her to see me like this."

As Mr. Kravos walked... _limped_ away , grunting slightly with every other step, into the vast winding corridors of the house, Ashe continued staring up at the underside of the dining table. 

The underside of the table was covered in nicks, scratches, and faded little paintings. Over a dozen names were carved into the wood: Blaise, Hroar, Runa, Samuel, Lucia, Francios, Antosa, Aniskja, and many others she’d heard before. Those were just a few of them. The names were connected by carved wooden lines and the painted webs of faded red paint.

_ 'Bloodlines,'  _ she realized, tracing one of them with her pinky finger. 

Surrounding the crudely-made unofficial family was what looked like fish, cats, and little bees along with what looked like rough depictions of people, each with names Aela, Lydia, Barbas, Mjoll, J’zargo, Annekke, Serana, Balgruuf, and many more.

_ 'This table has seen a lot of history,'  _ she thought, only now coming to realize how many people had come through this house and Mr. Kravos' life. 

Rena poked her head back under the table, lifting the tablecloth as she did so, and gave a friendly yip, pressing her cold, wet nose into Ashe's ankle. The girl pushed herself back up, rubbing the back of her head with one hand and scratched the dog under the chin with the other. 

"I'm alright, girl," she mumbled. "I guess everything is safe now?"

That got her another yip and a lick to the cheek. 

"Fine, fine. I'm coming."

She crawled out from under the table, her knees uncomfortably digging into the floor, and rolled to her feet. Driven by pure instinct, Ashe wandered over to the front door, double-checking that it had been securely locked and bolted. It wasn't necessarily that she doubted that Mr. Kravos would do so, he always came across as very protective of her and had the habit of going through the house every night and carefully making sure every opening was locked uptight, but it definitely seemed like something was...  _ off  _ about him right now. 

"What happened to Mr. Kravos?" she asked Rena, who cocked her head to the side. "Did he get hurt? What was loud noise earlier? Did the growling monster attack him?"

Predictably, she got no answer; instead, the dog's ears just folded down and she whined. Then she started pawing at the ground. 

Ashe frowned and did her best to comfort the pooch with a rub behind the ears. "It's okay, Rena. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Surprisingly, Rena shook her head off and pawed at the ground harder, ducking her head and nuzzling the floor. 

"What's bugging you, doggy?" she asked crouching down and sliding her fingers over the polished grains of the wooden floor. When she pulled them back, they were damp with a dark liquid. 

_ 'Blood,' _ Ashe realized, her stomach sinking at the implications. _ 'Mr. Kravos  _ **_was_ ** _ hurt.' _

"Ashe! Good, you're here!"

The girl jumped up, whirling around and tucking her hands behind her back. "Mr. Kravos, you're okay!"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" The man  _ looked  _ completely fine, the only difference being that he had changed his clothes and his face was wet like he had just washed it. 

She gave a shaky smile, "Oh, no reason. I just heard some weird noises outside."

There was the slightest widening in Mr. Kravos' eyes, the slightest stiffening in posture, the slightest raising of his eyebrows, the slightest pause before speaking, and the slightest hitch in his voice when he did so. 

All signs that someone was lying. 

"Really? _Hmmm_ , it must have just been the wind," the man said, forcing a nonchalant shrug. "The real question is, are you okay?"

_'Don't lie to me,'_ she hissed mentally; Ashe had been lied to by plenty of people before, by plenty of people, and there were few things she hated more in the entire world. 

"Oh, I'm fine... I did bump my head though," she replied, forcing a bashful smile and rubbing the back of her head. 

Ashe was a liar too, had been for a long time. It was the only way to survive in the Commonwealth as a lonely, unloved, and sick little girl. 

"Come here, let me see." Mr. Kravos waved her over, tenderly tapping at the goose egg growing on the back of Ashe's head. "You knocked your head good, got a little blood here. Wait a second..."

The man grabbed a clean washcloth and dunked it in a nearby water barrel before ringing it out and folding the cloth up. "Here, hold this to the back of your head."

Wordlessly, Ashe did so, flinching a little at the cool pressure against her smarting wound and the feeling of water droplets running through her hair before disappearing down her neck and the back of her dress. Then she watched as Mr. Kravos lit a small kindling twig on fire and held it up.

"Keep your eyes on the flame," he instructed, moving it slowly from side to side. 

"Wh-"

"I need to check your eyes."

Despite his early lie, Ashe still trusted Mr. Kravos and did as he said without question. Valuently, she refused to blink against the bright, burning light as her eyes tracked the little flame with her eyes. 

"Alright, it doesn't seem like you have a concussion," Mr. Kravos declared, tossing the twig into the fire. "Do you feel any nausea, like you need to throw up?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "In fact, I'm a little hungry."

"Good, good. That means you'll have a good bump for a while but nothing that will do any lasting harm." 

With a grunt, Mr. Kravos hoisted himself up from his crouched position and turned to go to the kitchen as Ashe followed along. He picked up the cookbook she dropped from the floor and looked it over, giving a little huff of laughter. 

"Mushroom and Vegetable Risotto, huh?" he asked. "Good choice."

Ashe felt herself blush, "Yeah, I thought it sounded yummy."

"It is," Mr. Kravos nodded, "I personally like to make it with bits of bacon mixed in... but it takes a bit of time to properly prepare and I'm a little tired tonight so, unfortunately, we'll have to save it for another night. I'm thinking of re-heating some of that soup we had the other day for supper; would you be alright with that?"

"Sure." 

Tired as she may be of soup and stews, it had been tasty, if a bit on the salty side, with a thick broth, big chunks of salted beef, and vegetable chunks. Add some bread and whatever sweet treat Mr. Kravos had tucked away, and it would be a perfectly serviceable meal. 

"Sure, that sounds fine."

* * *

Later that night, gnawing on the long piece of taffy that she snuck out of the kitchen -Mr. Kravos only ever allowed her to have **one** piece of it per day. How unfair!- Ashe pulled out the most recent book she'd been making her way through. 

Honestly, she was quite proud of herself. In the past month, Ashe had read through seven of the books in Mr. Kravos' library in addition to many of the children's books in the bedroom. Of course, she didn't completely understand some -most- of what was in those books and Ashe found the idea of going to Mr. Kravos about these questions embarrassing. Instead, she just wrote a list of questions about each and tucked them away in the little desk that had been set up for her. 

"Alright, Children of the Sky by... huh, there is no author, that is weird," she mused, thumbing the book open to where she'd left off the night before. 

_ 'The breath and the voice are the vi...tal ess...ence of a Nord. When they de...feat great en...em...ies they take their ton...gu...es as tro...phies.' _

"Ewww," Ashe said, wrinkling her nose and giving her own tongue a little nibble to make sure it was still there. "Who'd take someone's tongue? That is just gross."

_ 'These are wo...ven into ropes and can hold speech like an en...chant...ment. The power of a Nord can be art...ic...u...late...d into a "dragon" shout, like the kiai of an Aka....vi...ri swordsman. The strongest of their war...ri...ors are called "Ton....gues." When the Nords attack a city, they take no sie...ge en...gine...s or ca...valry; the Tongues form in a wedge in front of the gate...house, and draw in breath. When the lead...er lets it out in a kiai, the doors are blown in, and the axe...men rush into the city.' _

Ashe felt her eyebrows creep further and further up her forehead as she read on. There was no way this could be real! This had to be some sort of legend or fantasy story, people couldn't just use their voices as weapons; not in the physical sense, at least. Ashe knew well and good that words could hurt as much if not more than a fist or wooden spoon to the leg or the tip of a sharp knife digging into her hand.

But one word caught her interest more than any other. 

"Shout..." she whispered into the darkness, remembering the early events of that day. That sound, those strange words... Fus Ro Dah. They had sounded like a shout, they and the massive bang that had followed certainly weren't the wind, no matter what Mr. Kravos said.

It was that thought that kept Ashe up late into the night, tossing and turning in her bed as the moon crept across the night sky -a luminescent silver disk only just discernible behind the thick mist of Far Harbor- until the beginnings of sunlight started to peek out from the east. She was so restless that eventually Ashe just decided to stare up at the interesting little baubles and trinkets that had been hung from the ceiling, the glass and metal ones catching the dim light of her lantern and twinkling like stars -it was actually a little hypnotic.

Hours passed and thin, weak beams of light started coming through Ashe's window. Distantly she heard Mr. Kravos' door open and the wooden floorboards creaked as he walked down the hall, passing her room and heading downstairs. It was a familiar enough sound, Ashe always heard it whenever she woke up early enough or the noise itself woke her up; she always counted the steps Mr. Kravos took, twenty-seven in total, until she heard the creaking of the stairs -fifteen steps in total. 

Ashe was never able to hear her self-appointed guardian once he was on the first floor but when she closed her eyes she could easily imagine him going into the kitchen to put some tea on the stove and start making breakfast.

This morning was different though; there were the standard fifteen steps down the stairs but, instead of silence, there was the very distinctive creek & thud of the front door opening and closing. 

_ 'What is Mr. Kravos doing?' _ she wondered, sliding out of bed and creeping over to the window.

At first, there was nothing but then, through the dark gloom, Ashe was able to make out the figure of Mr. Kravos hurrying towards the back of the house with something propped against his shoulder.  _ 'Is that a shovel?' _

Curiosity and, quite frankly, sleepiness outweighing her own fear and cautiousness, Ashe found herself sliding into her slippers, picking up the lantern, and rushing downstairs. She was half-way out the front door when the echoing shriek of some strange bird finally brought Ashe back to her sense. Staring out into the thick, early dawn fog, dread began pooling in the pit of her tiny stomach.

_ 'I shouldn't go out there,' _ she told herself.  _ 'Mama always told me to never go out after dark, that things were always more dangerous at night, and Mr. Kravos said I'd be safe so long as I stayed inside.' _

Something cool and wet pressed into her hand, causing Ashe to jump; only for a moment though, one quick glance reassured her that it was just Rena. The dog yipped and gave Ashe a slobbery lick across the face.

The action was, somehow, incredibly reassuring and Ashe found herself with a determined grin on her face. She grabbed a squared her little shoulders and held up the lantern to illuminate the darkness. "I can't hide forever. Come on, Rena!"

The ground was soft and uneven under her feet as Ashe followed Mr. Kravos' footprints around the house, Rena padding along by her side. Her furry companion and the light from the lantern doing wonders to chase away Ashe's fear. 

Well... at least some of it. Ashe turned the corner, spotted Mr. Kravos, then screamed.

"Ashe!" the old man said, eyes going wide and dropping his shovel down on to the body of an absolutely massive albino deathclaw that he'd been burying. "You shouldn't be out-"

" **_Grrrrrrr._ ** "

The low growl cut Mr. Kravos off and they both turned to see a small baby deathclaw coming at them. 

  
  
  



	11. Chapter Eleven

"Kill it! Kill it!" Ashe shrieked, throwing herself backward and scrambling up a pile of crates that were stacked against the house. 

Deathclaws were vicious, deadly beasts, capable of tearing through armed militia caravans like wet paper. Mr. Kravos being able to take down an adult one was a miracle in and of itself; while the juveniles were far less dangerous, they tended to swarm and could still easily take down an adult man with their razor-sharp claws and teeth. 

The deathclaw lunged at Mr. Kravos, who nimbly -especially for his age- jumped aside, causing the creature to trip over the mounds of loose dirt. 

"Rena, GRAB!"

The growling dog lept at the order, tackling the juvenile deathclaw to the ground and sinking her teeth into the back of the creature's neck.

"Good. Now, Rena, HOLD!" Mr. Kravos commanded. 

Rena pinned her prey face-down in the dirt, her front paws pressing down on the deathclaw's arms and teeth still holding firm at the beast's neck. She didn't seem interested in killing the snarling, squirming creature -Ashe was pretty confident that Rena could have certainly ripped its throat out at any time- and was instead just... holding it in place. 

"Excellent!" Mr. Kravos praised, going over the stack of crates Ashe was still perched on. "Now, keep him there, girl."

The old man dragged over an empty barrel and pried the lid off, bending it over. "Okay, bring the little beast over."

"W-what are you doing?" Ashe demanded as the man and dog fought to get the juvenile deathclaw safely into the barrel. It swiped and snarled and bit at them, even drawing blood a few times, but, eventually, it dropped to the bottom of the barrel and sealed inside. "That thing is vicious, you need to _kill it!_ "

"If it comes to that, then so be it," Mr. Kravos agreed. "But I'd rather try a bit of an experiment first."

The barrel shook as the little deathclaw tore away at the wood from the inside. Ashe eyed it warily, waiting for the moment it broke free. "What do you mean?" 

"I've trained, raised, and domestic all sorts of dangerous, wild creatures. In fact, it became something of a hobby of mine, much to my family's dismay. Anyway, I want to give it a try with this little guy."

"You're insane!"

"Probably," Mr. Kravos agreed. "You should head back inside now, Ashlyn. There are still a few more hours before morning; I'll be in soon and I'll get you something to help you sleep."

"But-"

"But nothing, it is still far too early to be out. I'm not letting you out of doing your chores and lessons just because you decided on a little night time romp," the old man chided. "Off to bed with you now; take her inside, Rena. I still have to figure out what to do with this-" he patted the barrel "-little one."

She wanted to argue, opened her mouth start, but was stopped by Rena pawing at her foot and giving the hem of her nightgown a nibbling tug. Though she didn't want to, Ashe obeyed her guardian's instructions -though she was sure to huff, stomp her feet, and pout the entire way. 

Rena was sure to follow the girl all the way back to her bedroom, watching with her sharp, knowing eyes as Ashe slid back under the covers. Then, to be extra sure that she would stay put, hopped up onto the bed and stretched out across her legs. 

_'That dog is too smart for her own good,'_ Ashe mentally grumbled, annoyed that her plans to slip back out so she could spy on Mr. Kravos. 

What was the man thinking? You couldn't... tame a _deathclaw!_ Sure, people had tried but it never lasted; even if, theoretically, you raised one up from when it was a baby it would eventually get so big and vicious that it would kill it's 'master' by accident. 

Not to mention, feeding and caring for it would be a nightmare.

Reluctantly, the little girl closed her eyes hard and, in her mind, started going through all of the steps in making an apple pie. _'Select five large apples, they should still have some amount of tartness. Core and slice these apples thinly; remove the skin if desired.'_

Halfway through the process of rolling out the pie dough, a hand on her shoulder caused Ashe's eyes to flicker open. Groggily, she could make out the silhouetted form of Mr. Kravos; wordlessly, he slid a strong, callous hand under her neck and gently pushed her up until Ashe was propping herself up on her elbows. The lip of a cool glass bottle was pressed against her mouth, causing it to fall open; it was tilted up and Ashe found herself swallowing several mouthfuls of a slightly bitter liquid. 

"Close your eyes, little one," Mr. Kravos whispered, wiping off the spilled liquid with the back of his hand and carding his fingers through her growing hair. "The dawn always comes."

 _'But is that a good thing?'_ Ashe wondered as her eyelids grew heavy. 

* * *

It was mid-day when Ashe's eyes reopened, the light coming through the window as bright as it ever was in Far Harbor. As her mind came back to her, Ashe became aware of the pain in her legs; wincing, she flexed the stiff muscles. 

_'Rena must have slept on them all night,'_ she thought, sliding out from under the covers and wobbling over to the robe she'd discarded last night. 

Out the door and down the steps Ashe went, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath to inhale a wonderful smell that filled the air. Hunger didn't scare her as much as it did a few months ago; she'd finally started to accept that even if Mr. Kravos wasn't in the immediate vicinity, so long as Ashe was in his home, she'd always have food. 

"Mr. Kravos?" she called out, hearing the tell-tale clattering of pots and pans coming from the kitchen. "Can I help with anything?"

The old man's smiling face emerged from behind the kitchen door. "Hey there, Sleepyhead! Are you ready to eat some lunch?"

Ashe rubbed her eyes, "Wow, is it that late already?"

" _Mmmhmmm_ ," he nodded, "I decided to let you have a bit of a lay-in since you were up so late... or early, I suppose."

 _'Not letting me out of doing my chores and lessons, huh?'_ she thought, a smile creeping onto her face. "Yes, please. What are you cooking? It smells really good."

"I'm pan-frying up some onions, potatoes, green peppers, and sausages -you'll like it," Mr. Kravos explained. "I've also got a leftover pie that needs to be eaten before it goes bad. Now go wash up and get changed. The food needs a little more time."

With a nod, the little girl scampered back up to the bedroom and began pawing through the dresser full of clothes that Mr. Kravos had set up just for her. She eventually decided on the green dress with red flowers embroidered on the beige skirt. Pulling the belt tight, the back of Ashe's fingers brushed against her ribs, and she, for the first time, realized how much weight she'd put on in these past months. 

Standing in front of the room's floor-length mirror, Ashe twisted around to view her body from different angles and pinched her side. There was a comforting layer of skin and fat cushioning her ribs and legs and arms. Her face was full and round, eyes no longer sunken in, and Ashe's formerly chapped, dry lips were now soft, smooth, and pink. Her hair was longer now too, the stiff, brittle ends curling around Ashe's chin while the healthier new hair tickled her ears. 

_'I finally look like an actual child instead of some sick, stray animal Mr. Kravos dragged in off the streets,'_ she thought, slipping her shoes on. _'I look more like someone he cares about instead of just a charity case.'_

* * *

A massive plate of food and mug of milk was ready for her when Ashe slid her butt into the seat, grabbing a fork and automatically going for a chunk of seasoned potato.

" _Mmmmmm_ ," she moaned. _'Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.'_

Mr. Kravos laughed, "Eat up, I have plenty more."

Usually, meal times were filled with conversation but today they were strangely silent, just the clattering of forks against plates. There was a palpable awkward in the air and the many questions Ashe was mulling over in her mind, trying to figure out how to best word them, only made things worse. 

She swallowed a huge mouthful of three-day-old pie with some milk and turned to her self-appointed guardian. "Can I take a bath later? I didn't get around to washing up today and getting a little grimy."

"Sure, I think it's time for you to start using the washroom in the cellar," Mr. Kravos said. "I'll show you how to set things up later."

"Okay, thank you."

There was another lapse of silence. Ashe pushed some crumbs around on her plate, wondering if she should say something else.

She gnawed on her lower lip for a bit before taking a breath and starting up with a, "I-"

"I have that... creature locked up somewhere safe, I'm going to see if I can try and tame it," Mr. Kravos stated bluntly, clearly having had the same thought about breaking the silence as she did.

Ashe felt her eyes widen with shock and her jaw drop. "You can't be serious! You should drown that thing! It's dangerous!"

"I will if need be, but I'd rather that not be the default choice," the older man said. Then he gave her a gentle look, "Maybe it is aggressive, but that little creature is now completely alone in the world with no one to care for it; I'd think _you'd_ understand that better than anyone."

 _'Ouch, he really went for the heart with that one,'_ the girl winced, tapping her fork against the edge of her plate. Then she sighed, "I don't want you to get hurt."

That made Mr. Kravos smile and ruffle her hair. "Trust me, trying to tame a knee-high vicious little beast is basically at the bottom of the very long list of dangerous things I've done and possibly stupid ideas I've had -my friends, comrades, and family can tell you all about that when you meet them."

 _'Meet them?'_ Ashe's heart sped up, "Y-you want me to meet them?"

"Huh? Of course!" Mr. Kravos declared, seeming surprised that she even asked the question. "It might be a bit of time before that can happen, but I definitely am looking forward to introducing you to all of them."

Feeling her face heat up, Ashe ducked her head and chased more crumbles. "You're going to be careful, right? Even juvenile deathclaws can be dangerous. Once I met a caravan guard and he told me they can be even more dangerous than the adults if you're not careful because they're harder to hit and tend to go for the female artery in the inner thigh."

"Female artery? Oh, you mean the _femoral_ artery," Mr. Kravos said, mostly to himself as he scratched at his beard. "Hmm, that is good to know; I'll be sure to wear some armor when I enter the pen."

"Mr. Kravos!" she snapped, annoyed that man wasn't paying attention to her warnings and concerns. 

"It will be fine, Ashlyn; I've cared for many, _many_ dangerous animals and I know not to rush into anything," he comforted, using the pad of his thumb to wipe away some apple pie filling from the corner of her mouth. "Now you called those animals 'deathclaws,' right? Can you tell me what you know about them? I want to know absolutely everything so don't hold back; no detail is too small."

Unsure as she was, the eager look on her guardian's face weakened Ashe's resolve. "Fine... Okay, so the first thing you need to know is-"

* * *

In the months that she'd been living in the house, Ashe hadn't ever been in the cellar. She'd seen Mr. Kravos open the hatch and climb down the ladder into the darkness many times but it had always seemed so scary. Sure, there were probably a lot of fun secrets down there -Mr. Kravos was always ducking through the hatch and returning with some cool toy or shiny knickknack- but it never seemed worth the potential of being written by a giant rat or something. But, to her surprise, the cellar was not only large -several sprawling rooms, some locked and some opened for her exploration- but clean, tidy, well-lit by those blue-stone lanterns, and comfortable. The rough stone floor was covered by thick, woven rugs and even the walls were prettied up with stone, panes of wood, and nice decorations. 

One of the rooms was the nicest washroom she'd ever seen. Sure, there were probably prettier ones out there but Ashe certainly had never seen them. The gray slate-like stone it was made of was kept scrubbed clean and the tub she was currently soaking in was far larger than any she'd ever experienced; so large, in fact, that she could completely lay down in any direction. It was definitely bigger than the portable one that Ashe had been using and that thing was extravagant compared to the metal barrel she'd grown up using. 

That bath, easily three feet deep, was built right into a corner and tucked neatly into the corner of the room. Mr. Kravos has shown her how to pull a series of nozzles on the wall to fill the tub with hot and cold water - _"Make sure you always test the temperature of the water before you get in, Ashe," he warned. "Otherwise you could scald yourself something horrible."_ \- before giving her a bottle of sweet-smelling oil. When she asked what it was for, Ashe had gotten a sly wink and instructions to pour a little bit into the water while the tub was filling up.

So, of course, Ashe had promptly upended half of the bottle into the water then all but had a heart attack when a tidal wave of floral-scented bubbles rushed upward and overtook everything. 

Okay, so not really. But they did spill out of the tub and cover the washroom floor with a fine layer of subs. 

_'A problem for later,'_ she told herself, sinking down into the water until the bubbles tickled her ears. After all, aside from hanging the floor mats over the room's small fire to dry, there wasn't much that could be done. The floor would be sticky once it dried, sure, and he'd probably have to mop up afterward but Ashe doubted Mr. Kravos would be all that angry with her. He rarely even raised his voice at her. 

_'He's a strange man,'_ Ashe thought, not for the first time, as she enjoyed the feeling of her warm, wet hair sticking to her skin. _'He'd have to be to try and tame a deathclaw.'_

Still, if anyone could do it, Mr. Kravos could. After all, while Ashe had long since realized that her guardian was a strange individual, she was beginning to suspect he was _far_ stranger than anything she'd ever considered. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Once upon a time, Mama had told Ashe that the best way to answer a question was to first gather up as much information as possible. 

So that is what she did. 

She started with the chunks of glowing blue stones that Mr. Kravos used as a light source throughout the house. They were nothing like anything Ashe had ever seen before and, though she grew up in a fairly sheltered community for most of her young life, Ashe also thought she'd seen plenty of strange things. The stones seemed to hum or buzz slightly, vibrating against her skin when Ashe touched them. 

None of the chunks of stone was the same size either and all looked like been chiseled out of a much larger rock. There were also somewhat see-through; not entirely, looking through them just showed off-colored blobs, but light definitely shown through them. Finally, the stones gave off no heat, which was probably why Mr. Kravos kept fires going in most rooms. 

They were beautiful, fascinating, and confusing all in one. 

Ashe needed to have an explanation for them, sure that they were connected to the larger mystery that was Mr. Kravos, the weird things it seemed he could do, and the strange place he came from. She wasn't quite ready to label it 'magic' -Ashe had seen far too much of the Real World to believe in magic anymore- but it was _**something!**_

So, it was off to the library. 

While Mr. Kravos had basically given her free rein of the library -the lower floor at least, she was still locked out of the upper-level because Mr. Kravos said, "that was where I keep my rarest books."- he stacked roughly twenty books on a long, low table for her, stating that they were the most age-appropriate, reading level-appropriate, and informative that he had. 

Ashe spent a solid day of free-time, which had significantly increased ever since Mr. Kravos had started working on his new 'pet project' -and, yes, the man had actually called his insane idea of taming a juvenile deathclaw, a 'pet project' and then had the nerve to laugh at his own joke. Ashe rolled her eyes and beamed him with a chunk of roasted potato in response- and needed the time to keep a close eye on the carefully locked up creature. That meant Ashe could reasonably justify spending all day poring over the different texts, trying to find something, **ANYTHING** , that matched the description of the blue stone, as 'educational.'

And, yet, twenty-six books and many hours in, Ashe still had made no progress. 

"Tell me your secrets!" she begged the chunk of stone clutched in her tiny hands. "I just want to know what you are!"

"Ashe, do you want-" 

Mr. Kravos rounded the doorway into the library, his words dying as he spotted her sitting cross-legged on the floor talking to a glowing rock. "What are you... Why are you... Where did you get that?"

A rush of guilt and embarrassment over being caught came over her and Ashe's eyes went wide. "I didn't break anything! This is just the one from the lamp in my room!"

"Okay," Mr. Kravos said slowly, amusement evident in his face and voice. "But what are you doing with it? Is there are not enough light in here?"

She shook her head, relief rushing over her when she was -once again- reassured that Mr. Kravos was not angry with her. "I was just want to know what it is. I've been looking through all the books you left out for me but I can't find anything."

"Oh, yes, that does make sense. I can imagine you'd been curious; hell, even most of the people back home are stunned when they first see my little rock-lamps," the man nodded. "You could have just asked, though."

"Sorry," Ashe said, feeling the tips of ears burn slightly. "I just didn't want to bother you, you've been so busy these past few days. Can you please tell me about these stones?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to." 

And with that, Mr. Kravos seamlessly slipped into what Ashe had come to call 'Teacher Mode', settling himself in one of the library's comfortable armchairs and setting the bowl he was carrying down on the top of a stack of books. 

"Now, let's see... those particular types of rocks are from a massive underground cavern called Blackreach. It is an extremely dangerous place so few explorers dare to venture down into it -even if you can find a way in, there is no guarantee you'll be able to find your way out afterward- and, as a result, not many have ever seen these stones."

He held his hand out for the rock she'd been fiddling with, to which she handed it over. Mr. Kravos took a moment to roll the stone between his hand before holding it out again and pointing towards one specific grove on the surface. 

"See this? Well, all the pieces of stone I use had to be chiseled out of much larger geodes -some of which were bigger than me!- and that took a long time because the geodes are very hard, much more so than regular stone."

"Wow..." Ashe couldn't help but stare at the rock in awe. This chunk was only about the size of her fist so to imagine that it came from a much bigger stone was amazing; Mr. Kravos was not a small man, easily six feet tall, so the geode sources must have been huge! "What are they called? They have to have a name, being so special."

Mr. Kravos gave her a warm smile, "I call them Star Stones, but I have been told that name is silly... My kids can be cruel."

He gave a small chuckle of fondness but Ashe frowned, _'From some of his stories, I swear that his children and grandchild sound like a bunch of rude, disrespectful brats. They should be a lot more grateful to Mr. Kravos for all he has done for them.'_

Then she smiled, pretty and broad. "Thank you for telling me that! It is very interesting to learn about all the neat stuff you have in your house."

The raised eyebrow she got in return told Ashe that she wasn't much of an actress. Still, Mr. Kravos chuckled, ruffled her hair, then got up and grabbed the bowl he'd been carrying, "Come on, put down the books for now; let's get some fresh air."

Silently, Ashe stood up -her legs were all wobbly, she'd been sitting cross-legged on the floor for so long that they'd gone numb- and followed him out of the library, down the stairs, and to the front door. Standing at the threshold to the outside world, Ashe froze in her tracks; the cool, moist air blew over her, and that intense, instinctual fear of the outside world returned in full force. She was safe inside the house, safe from all the monsters and dangers, and the outside world was filled with things that could hurt her.

"Ashe? Everything alright, Sweetheart?"

Looking up at Mr. Kravos' concerned blue eyes and feeling Rena's soft, warm fur brush against her side, Ashe found the strength to smile and step over the threshold. "I'm fine."

* * *

"He seems kind of stupid," Ashe mused, cocking her head to the side as she watched the positively furious juvenile deathclaw charge headfirst into the thick stone wall of its enclosure. Though fairly strong, even the youngest of its species were, the wall far too tough to be broken through; instead, it just bounced off and back onto its butt. The collision seemed to leave it dazed; it shook its head for a minute before getting back to its feet and charging towards another wall to predictable results. 

"He's just a kid, of course he doesn't know any better.... but, then again," Mr. Kravos let out a huff of laughter as they both watched the creature run in circles until it got dizzy and fell down, "he may just be stupid. So, do you want to feed him?"

"What?" Ashe turned to him, wide-eyed and in shock. 'Does he expect me to get in there?'

Mr. Kravos held up the bowl which, for the first time, she could see was filled with scraps of raw, red meat. "In my experience, the best way to any beast's heart is through their stomach -that is how I got Aela to like me, after all- so I'm trying to figure out what kind of meat he likes best. This-" he wiggled the bowl a bit "-is some leftover rabbit. I've already tried beef, fish, and squirrel, all of which he ate but our little guest here has yet to be particularly enthusiastic about any of them."

"How can you tell if the deathclaw likes one type of food more than the other?" she asked, nose wrinkling as she picked up a tiny piece of raw meat with her thumb and pointer finger. 

Her guardian tossed a chunk of rabbit into the enclosure and the juvenile deathclaw automatically pounced when it sensed movement, but then sniffed curiously at its prey. 

"You feed the animal a different kind of food every day for a week then, the next week, you repeat that order," Mr. Kravos explained. "After a few weeks, the creature should develop a preference. If it has any sort of individualized intelligence, that is."

"Huh, that is cool," Ashe hummed, tossing her own piece of meat into the enclosure. "Do you think you're making any progress?"

"Well, for the first few days, our little guest here wouldn't even eat so-" he nodded toward the young death claw who'd plopped down on his butt and was gnawing at the chunks of meat rather placidly "- I'd have to answer yes."

" _Mmhhhh_." She wasn't sure how she felt about that even as she chucked some more rabbit pieces over the fence and a peaceful silence settled between them.

"Oh," Mr. Kravos eventually piped up, "I was thinking that it might be time to give this little guy a name, what do you think?"

Ashe's scowled and she gave Mr. Kravos a weird look. "It's not a _cat_ ," she said. "Don't go getting attached. You might still have to kill it."

 _'It'd be safer for all of us,_ ' she mentally added.

If her guardian was disappointed, he didn't let it show. Instead, Mr. Kravos just passed her the bowl, "I've to go grab him some water. Do you mind sitting tight for a moment?"

Ashe just shrugged, tossing in another piece of meat as she watched the old man around the corner. Then she turned back to the deathclaw, who'd finally decided that running headfirst into the walls and was now curled up in a patch of grass, glaring at it. 

"You are a monster," she hissed. "I should grab a hammer and beat you to death right now, otherwise you'll just grow up to attack people and settlements."

Obviously, the deathclaw didn't have anything to say in its defense. It did let out a gurgly chirp thought. 

"Don't try to be cute," she snapped, leaning forward to throw a pebble at the beast's head... and missing by a mile. It did, however, nearly caused her to fall off the overturned bucket she was standing on. _"Ahhh!"_

The bucket wobbled dangerously but she was able to regain her balance. "Wow, that was close!" she sighed in relief, glancing down at her feet and taking note of the loose construction materials scattered across the ground. Spotting a piece of thin rope, a devious idea took root in Ashe’s mind. 

_"Hmmm."_

Hopping down from the bucket, Ashe grabbed the rope, which was about four feet long, and tied one end to a thick stick with a knot Nicky Becker -whose father was a fisherman- had taught her. Then she pushed a bent nail through the other end of the rope, finishing her make-shift fishing pole. 

"Alrighty," she said, "let's see how well this works."

After Papa threw her out, Ashe got extremely used to talking to herself, be it to ward off the loneliness or to quell the fear when she huddled in some tucked away nook for the night. Now that she had Mr. Kravos to talk to, Ashe found she didn't do it as much anymore... though she still talked to Rena more than was probably healthy.

Hopping back up on the bucket, Ashe skewered a chunk of the rabbit on the nail then 'cast' the 'rod' over the wall and into the enclosure. At first, the deathclaw only gave her 'bait' a curious glance so she wiggled the rod a bit, bouncing it up and down to make the meat look more enticing. 

And it worked, the beast gave another low gurgle, cocked its head to the side, and stood up, taking a few steps forward. Ashe watched carefully as the muscles in its body tensed and then...

**_"RHHhhaaaa!"_ **

The deathclaw pounced and Ashe yoinked the rod up, causing the beast to fly through the air only to land on its face without anything to show for its trouble. After pulling itself up, the deathclaw looked down at its paws and then on the ground around itself, seemingly confused by the lack of food. 

Ashe found herself laughing out loud at the creature's expression and lowered the bait back into the enclosure again. After months with only books, storytime, and playing fetch with Rena for entertainment -who knew she'd miss television so much? Ashe's family certainly never had one, they were far too expensive and, when she wanted to watch it, she and the other children would have to go watch the community hall. They did have a radio though and she missed listening to all the music and dramas; she remembered dancing around to song with Mama, holding onto her hands and balancing on her feet as they went around and around the kitchen- Ashe had decided that she was going to make her own fun. 

So she wiggled the bait again and waited for the deathclaw to pounce so she could yank the line back up. 

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

By this point, Ashe was shrieking with laughter -a noise that seemed to confuse the deathclaw- as the creature got angrier and angrier by its lack of success. It was growling loudly now, scratching at the ground and walls as it tried to scamper up the wall of its enclosure after the bait. 

Then the mistake happened, she didn't pull the rod up fast enough.

" _Ahhh!_ " Ashe yelped as the stick was nearly tugged right out of her hands. 

The deathclaw had grabbed a hold of the string and pulled downward with all of its strength which, even though it was a juvenile, was quite impressive. Ashe pulled back but her skinny arms weren't strong enough and, when it gave another sharp tug, she found herself pitching forward, over the top of the stone fence and into the enclosure.

She screamed as the ground was getting closer and closer... only for something to grab ahold of the back of her dress and pull her back. 

" _Umpf!_ " She found herself on her butt in the dirt with the wind knocked right out of her and a racing heartbeat. Gasping, she looked up into the disappointed blue eyes and the sad frown of Mr. Kravos.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

"Make sure you wash your hands well with soap and water; it can be dangerous to handle raw meat so don't go touching anything until you've gotten clean," Mr. Kravos instructed, his voice stern and colder than she'd ever heard it before

 _'Except when he was putting on voices for storytime,'_ Ashe thought glumly, realizing she probably wouldn't be getting storytime for a while.

Keeping her eyes low and head bow, Ashe let out a quiet, "Yessir, Mr. Kravos."

The man said nothing and just gave her one final excruciating disappointed look before walking off and vanishing behind the kitchen doors. What made it even worse was how Rena's silver-blue eyes seemed to shine sadly as she let out a low, mournful whine, and licked Ashe's clenched hand before turning to follow her master. 

The dog may like Ashe, may be protective of her, but Rena's loyalty would always be with Mr. Kravos first and foremost. 

This left Ashe alone to, much like a kicked puppy, limp her way over the nearest washbasin, her butt still sore from the tumble she'd taken early. The soap smelt like lavender and the water was warm but Ashe couldn't enjoy it due to the shame she was feeling. She still took care to scrub all the way up her elbows, making sure to get between her fingers and under her nails though. Whenever she helped cook at home, Mama had been sure to tell Ashe that raw meat could get her sick -which was why it was better to overcook it than undercook it; they couldn't afford to see a doctor, after all- so Ashe had already known she needed to wash her hands really well, even if she didn't say anything.

 _'How could I have messed up so badly?'_ she berated herself. _'How could I have forgotten myself like that? I didn't just goof around with Mr. Kravos project, something I know is important to him, I could have gotten **hurt!** I nearly **did** get hurt! If I had fallen in with that deathclaw, it would have torn me apart! God, imagine how horrible Mr. Kravos would have felt if that had happened when he had his back turned?'_

Shame sat heavy and cold in her gut; the knowledge that she had disappointed Mr. Kravos, that she all but mocked what he was attempting to do, made Ashe feel like she needed to throw up! She didn't expect to be punished... or, at least, not like Papa used to punish her, and Ashe knew that Mr. Kravos wouldn't do something as drastic as throwing her out but there was sure to be some consequences to her actions. 

And Ashe wanted there to be. 

If she were to be punished, if Mr. Kravos was to give her the belt or cut her off from meals for a few days, or gives her a lot of extra chores that Ashe would have to complete in a short time than she could just take it and this bad feeling inside her would go away. 

"What can I do to make it up to him?" she wondered out loud.

Well, to start off she'd have to be perfectly polite and obedient; she wouldn't talk back or misbehave until the air cleared. Ashe would also take extra care when doing her chores, she'd do them before even being asked or reminded and would go beyond what was expected of her. The times when she had to placate Papa after messing up and getting him angry had taught Ashe that few things made someone happier than finding out a task they didn't want to do was already completed. 

_'Maybe I can get up really early one day and bring him breakfast in bed too?'_ Ashe thought. _'Papa always liked that.'_

Mr. Kravos had recently begun trusting her to be alone in the kitchen to make herself simple meals so long as she'd asked permission first. Before she'd been allowed to go get as much water as she'd like and would even leave out different snacks for it she'd get hungry, especially after he'd first take Ashe in and she needed to put on a lot of weight, but she hadn't been allowed to handle any of the cooking knives or make anything the required fire to make.

Ashe had spent a lot of time showing Mr. Kravos that she could be responsible in the kitchen, hoping to earn the right to use the stove and oven by herself. After all, she spent years helping Mama in the kitchen and then cooking most of Papa's meals for him. Ashe was confident she could manage to make the basics like eggs & toast or grill some meat in a skillet, even if the appliances in Mr. Kravos' kitchen were really weird compared to what she'd had back in her community.

Even if the breakfast Ashe made was only some eggs and toast with jam, she was sure Mr. Kravos would appreciate it.

"That is a good way to start off, but what more can I do?" she mused, scratching her chin and splashing warm soap suds everywhere. "I know this project of him is really important, so maybe if I..."

Just then, a lightbulb went off in her head and Ashe's voice trailed off as she was struck by a brilliant idea.

* * *

"Ashlyn, its time for supper!"

Fighting to get her massive smile under control, Ashe folded the two pieces of paper she'd been working on and tucked them under her arm before bounding down the stairs to the dining room. Mr. Kravos was setting out plates of what smelled liked grilled beef steak and boiled vegetables all covered in a thick gravy with a small bowl of piping hot bread rolls, a butter dish on the side. 

Still trying to fight back the urge to giggle, Ashe pranced right up to her guardian and held out the papers.

"What is all this?" he asked, bright blue eyes glancing down.

"A present."

With a low hum, Mr. Kravos took the papers and unfolded them. After looking the first one over, he asked, "Is this a list of names?"

" _Mmmhmm_ ," she nodded eagerly. Raising up on her tippy-toes, Ashe peered over the top of the paper and pointed. "I know you said the deathclaw should have a name, right? So I decided to come up with some ideas."

Even upside-down, Ashe was able to re-read the list of eight possible names scrawled in her own messy handwriting.

  
**_Jax_ **

**_Spike_ **

**_Ankle-Biter_ **

**_Dave_ **

**_Ribbon_ **

**_Rush_ **

**_Scales_ **

**_Blue_ **

  
"Ribbon?" Mr. Kravos asked, cocking his head to the side in amusement. "What made you come up with Ribbon?"

"Papa always said that deathclaws are super dangerous because they can 'slice you to ribbons,' so I thought it could be a good name in case it's a girl," Ashe explained with a shy shrug. "I think it's a boy thought."

"I do too," her guardian agreed. "Still, it was good of you to cover all the bases."

He topped that compliment with a ruffle to Ashe's hair that had her heart jumping for joy. Then Mr. Kravos looked at the second paper, "And what is this?"

"It's a chart to keep track of how many pieces of meat the deathclaw eats each day. I figured that it will help you... help us figure out what kind of meat he likes best," she replied, internally wincing when it occurred to Ashe how messily she'd drawn the chart. _'I should have done better.'_

But Mr. Kravos just smiled. 

"That is an excellent idea, it will definitely come in handy," he praised. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Ducking her head to hide her blush, Ashe just mumbled out that "It was no big deal," and slid into her chair to poke at her dinner. The food was delicious, as usual, but it was noticeably plainer than most of the meals they'd been having lately. The noticeable difference meant that Ashe couldn't help but wonder if that was simply because Mr. Kravos didn't feel like cooking something more complex or because he was upset with her.

Then again... Ashe was getting juice with her dinner, so he couldn't be too angry with her. 

Mr. Kravos cut into his own steak, running a piece through the gravy puddle before popping it into his mouth. "So, out of all of these wonderful names you've suggested, which do you think would fit the best?"

Ashe froze, the bread roll she was in the process of tearing in half still in her hands. _'This has to be a test. He must want to see how invested I really am, to see if I really care about this project.'_

Swallowing hard and dabbing at some gravy with half a bread roll, Ashe replied, " _Hmmm_ , the name has to be just right... so I want to spend some more time with yo- with our new friend first before deciding."

Clicking his tongue, Mr. Kravos gave a satisfied none and cut another piece of his steak. "An excellent point."

Smiling down at her plate, Ashe was confident she said the right thing. 

* * *

_'This is probably a bad idea but I have to know,'_ Ashe thought to herself as she crept down the stairs towards the library. She had to know more about the star stone. Ashe couldn't explain it, couldn't put it into words, but somehow she just _knew_ it was the key to discovering more about Mr. Kravos and where he came from; if she could learn more about _them_ , then she could learn more about _him_. 

So Ashe returned to the library, tip-toeing through the dark halls so as not to make noise until she could safely close herself in the room. Not that she was particularly worried about that, honestly; a massive thunderstorm -one big enough to rattle the glass window panes in their frames with every boom of thunder- had rolled in after dinner and continued on into the night. There could have been an epic gunfight going on in front of the house and between the wind, rain, and thunder, it would be impossible to hear it.

The storm would also provide a convenient excuse for if Ashe was discovered out of bed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kravos," she could say, "but the storm kept me up and it was really frightening. I wanted to read some books so I wouldn't be so scared. I know I should have just come to you for help but I didn't want to disturb you. I hope I'm not a bother."

Yes, that would be a good, believable explanation. 

Despite the sound cover provided by the thunderstorm, Ashe was very careful to close the library quietly. The room was dim, light only by the star stones lanterns on the walls and the small lantern she was carrying. She put that down on the little table, gave a little shiver, and pulled her robe on her tighter; the small fireplace wasn't lit so the room was cold.

A bolt of lightning cut through the cloudy night sky and briefly illuminated the room through the narrow library windows. When Ashe was smaller and still lived at home, this would have scared her; it would have sent her running into her parents' room to face Papa's annoyance and Mama's comforting hugs.

She was brave now though and Ashe knew there were a lot scarier things in the world than a bit of thunder and lightning. 

"Blackreach. Blackreach. Blackreach," she mumbled under her breath, scanning the spine titles of the many books. "I need to find a book on Blackreach."

 _Aaaaand_... there was nothing. 

"Plan B, then."

That meant starting at the beginning and working her way through ** _aaaalllll_** the books.

* * *

> _My research suggests a much different cause, however. In the decades preceding their fall, the dwarven cities of Skyrim had been decimated by internal disputes and infighting over a most surprising cause: Aetherium._
> 
> _Modern scholars know Aetherium as a rare, luminescent blue crystal found in some Dwemer ruin_ _s._

Ashe's bored brain stuttered to a stop, words clicking into place. Her eyes, which had just been lazily scanning page after page, not really reading or understanding anything and just hoping to find the word 'Blackreach, zeroed into the description she'd just read.

_'...a rare, lumi...nes...cent blue cr...ys...tal.'_

Automatically, Ashe's eyes flickered over to the star stone lantern that was casting the library in a cool, blue glow, providing the very light she was using to read. 

_'Well, that description certainly fit,'_ she thought, flipping back to the title page of the book and using her thumb to mark her spot. "The Ae...th...eri...um Wars by Tar...on Dre...th. Ded...i...ca...ted to Katria, my Friend and Col...lea...gue."

Ashe sounded the words out carefully; despite the instruction she'd been receiving, a lot of her guardian's books contained strange names and words that she still struggled with. She'd definitely been doing a lot better when it came to reading though. Mr. Kravos even claimed that she made 'years of progress' in just a short time. The praise was welcome but Ashe often doubted if it was really true. 

"Katria, huh? That is a pretty name," Ashe mentioned to no one, flipping back to the page she'd been on and re-reading it more closely. 

> _My re...search suggests a much dif...fer...ent cause, however. In the d...ec...ades pre...ceding their fall, the d...war...ven cities of Skyrim had been dec...i...mated by in...ter...nal dis...put...es and in...fight...ing over a most sur...pri...sing cause: Aeth...eri...um._
> 
> _Mod...ern s...c...hol...ars know Aeth...erium as a rare, lumi...nes...cent blue cry...stal found in some D...wem...er ruins. Most con...sid...er it little more than a curi...os...ity, as it has proven all but im...poss...ible to work with: while it has a strong magical au...ra, it is al...chem...ic...ally in...ert, and no known pro...cess can en...chant, s...melt, mold, bind, or break it._
> 
> _To the dwarv...es, of course, such problems were mere...ly a chal...len...ge. In the years following King Harald's reign, the Dwe...mer dis...cover...ed a con...sid...er...able source of Aether...ium in their deepest del...vings._

**Dwarven.**

**Aetherium.**

**Dwemer.**

**Magical.**

**Enchant.**

**Alchemically.**

What was Mr. Kravos hiding?


	14. Chapter Forteen

"..sh...Ash...shhh...Ashe?"

An annoying voice in her head and a light pressure pressing at her shoulder, causing her little body to rock from side-to-side, interrupted Ashe's sleep. Fighting the urge to wake up, she forced her eyes to remain closed, scrunched her face up, and swung a tingling arm out towards the source of the noise.

"Wow, calm down, sweetheart!" the voice chortled, amused. "Take pity on an old man in spectacles, won't you?"

The question kicked Ashe's mind into gear and she reluctantly opened her eyes to see a chuckling Mr. Kravos staring down at her, his bright blue eyes indeed shining out warmly from behind his reading spectacles. 

"What are you doing sleeping in here, Sweetie?" he asked, glancing around the disheveled library. "And why are there books all over the place? Did you decide to do some 'light reading' during the night?"

A rush of panic and embarrassment at being caught rushed over her and Ashe found herself scrambling to get out the excuse she'd come up with the night before. 

"Well, you see, the storm last night was so loud that it kept me up," she lied. "All the wind and rain and thunder and lightning were really frightening. I know I should have just come to you for help but I didn't want to disturb you so I decided to read some books to keep me from being too scared. I'm sorry for the mess, Mr. Kravos. I'll clean it up right away, I promise."

"It's not a big deal, they're just books; they can be put back without any hassle," Mr. Kravos reassured. Then he gave a gentle frown. "You really  _ should  _ have let me know you couldn't sleep though; I could have given you something to help you sleep."

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "I just didn't want to wake you up."

"I know, you're such a thoughtful girl," her guardian said, giving Ashe's hair a quick ruffle, "and I understand that you were on your own for a while. I can't imagine how much of an adjustment it must have been for you to start living here with me. So, Ashe, I promise that you never need to apologize for trying to be independent."

Heart swelling, Ashe fought against the urge to cry. To be shown so much kindness, so much understanding, in the face of her lie was painful. Part of Ashe wanted to throw herself into the man's arms for a big hug and part of her wanted to confess everything so she could be punished for her lie and let go of the guilt eating at her stomach.

_ 'He probably **can** imagine,'  _ Ashe realized suddenly. _ 'After so many kids, most of them coming off the streets like me, he's probably had to go through this adjustment period a bunch of times. They all probably had their own issues after being taken into a safe, loving home _ .'

Mr. Kravos slid his hand down from the top of Ashe's head to cup her cheek. "What is this? Charcoal?" he asked, rubbing a thumb against Ashe's cheek. "Decided to take some notes too, I see."

Ashe's eyes darted down to the list of terms she'd written up to research later. 

** Dwarven. **

** Aetherium. **

** Dwemer. **

** Magical. **

** Enchant. **

** Alchemically. **

The words were badly smudged due to Ashe having slept on the paper, to the point of being unreadable, though she obviously still knew what she'd written. 

"Oh... yeah," she laughed nervously, quickly folding up the sheet of paper and sticking it in her pocket. "Just some stuff I want to look up later."

Then she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window. There was charcoal dust smeared all over the side of her face, down her neck, and up the side of her arm. " _ Ugh _ ," she groaned, wrinkling her nose, "I need a bath."

That need doubled when the girl stood up and nearly fell flat on her face as just about every joint in her body let out a loud ' ** POP! ** ' and every muscle screamed at her for sleeping in such an unnatural position. 

" _ OOooooowwww! _ " she moaned pathetically.

Mr. Kravos gave Ashe a sympathetic -yet still amused, though he was trying hard to hide it- look, "That is what happens when you fall asleep at a table... believe me, I've done it plenty of times; I'd bet good money that it is part of the reason my back _hates_ me. But you are still young so a long, hot bath should fix that right up, and it will give you the chance to wash off all that charcoal dust. Are you feeling particularly hungry?"

" _ Hmmm _ ... No, I'll be good for a while," Ashe replied, shaking her head.

"Alright, how about you have a warm soak while I prepare breakfast? After eating you can get to work putting all of these books back; it looks like you've done enough studying to be excused from any lessons today," her guardian offered.

"Really? That sounds great!"

The man just gave a half-smile and shrugged. "It works out well for me too. That storm last night was pretty bad, I need to walk the property with Rena and check to see if any damage has been done."

Then his eyes strayed downwards to a very particular book and he scowled. 

The Aetherium Wars by Taron Dreth

Ashe swallowed hard as she watched Mr. Kravos pick up the book and started through it aggressively, praying her investigation wasn't about to be discovered and halted in its tracks before it could even really begin. 

"This book is a load of rubbish," he growled. "That bastard Dreth took all of Katria's work, chopped it to bits, and then claimed it for his own after she died."

_ 'Katria, who is that? Wait a minute, I know that name!'  _ Ashe realized, thinking back to what she'd read. _ 'Is he talking about that same Katria mentioned in the book?' _

Deciding to risk it, she cautiously asked, "What do you mean? Is the book telling a bunch of lies?"

Mr. Kravos was slow to answer but eventually nodded. "The aetherium forge is an old tale... a little morality fable about the destructiveness of greed. It doesn't exist, obviously, but even the most outlandish of myths and legends typically have a kernel of truth to them; something has to start the story, after all. Katria, a... a _very good_ friend of mine, was doing research into the different possible origins of the story when she died. Dreth was her assistance and rather than honor her properly, he stole all of her work and presented it as his own."

_'Some of that is the truth,'_ Ashe realized as she carefully studied her guardian's somber face, _'but you are also lying. You are **still** lying to me.'_

It did make sense for Mr. Kravos to mix half-truths and little white lies to create his explanations. In general, the best lies _were_ mostly the truth. The real question was what was Mr. Kravos lying about and what was he being truthful about?

"It's pretty mean of that guy to lie to everyone," she offered, partly to see Mr. Kravos' reaction and partly because he did seem genuinely sad whenever he mentioned Katria. "Did he ever get in trouble for it?"

To her surprise, the question got a dark, legitimately creepy sounding chuckle out of Mr. Kravos.

"Oh yes," he said, a twisted kind of amusement dancing in his eyes, "he _definitely_ came to regret his acts, in the end."

There was a story there and it was probably a bloody one, Ashe realized. Then, as a shiver ran down her spine, she came to another realization- Mr. Kravos wasn't just a strong, strange man, he was a dangerous one. 

Maybe it was the look of concern on her face or maybe Mr. Kravos realized what he just said because he seemed to shake himself out of whatever he was reminiscing about. 

"Anyway," he started, "why don't you go hop into the bath? I'll start whipping up breakfast. I don't particularly want to make some eggs, bacon, and toast with jam sound good?"

"Yeah, that sounds yummy."

* * *

"What were you lying about?" Ashe wondered out loud, her words mixing with the clouds of steam that rose from the hot water of her bath. "Why were you lying, Mr. Kravos? I want to trust you, I've come to trust you with so much, but you're still lying to me. Why?"

Questions turning through her mind, Ashe couldn't relax. Despite the warmth of the water and the sweet smell of the burning candles, doubts and worries nagged at her mind. With a frustrated huff, she flopped backward, fully submerging herself under the water and splashing it over the edge of the tub.

It was not that Ashe thought Mr. Kravos was trying to hurt or deceive her, exactly. It wasn't as if she thought that Mr. Kravos took her in was part of some sort of long, particularly cruel trick. But even if the lies were mundane little things or he told them because Mr. Kravos didn't want to scare or worry her, a lie was still a lie.

_ 'And until I know what you're lying about, I can't fully trust you either,'  _ Ashe thought, doing her best to let the warm water soothe her into a state of peace as the heat worked to relax the pains in her tiny body. 

* * *

When the water had cooled enough that it was no longer comfortable to be in, Ashe reluctantly dragged herself from the soapy pool. Careful not to slip, dried herself with one of the many luxuriously plush towels Mr. Kravos had laid out for her. Taking care to work out all of the knots in her hair, Ashe was happy to see that her hair was now long enough to snip off the still-dead ends. 

"I should ask Mr. Kravos for a trim," she thought aloud, tugging a lock of hair forward so she could see it. Her hair would be short, just under her ears, but Ashe really wanted all that dead hair -and everything it represented- gone. "It's long enough now."

Dressing in a clean dark purple and pearl gray dress, Ashe made her way to the main room of the cellar. It was a large, square room that seemed to be mostly used for storage; there were large barrels of water, grain, and salt, shelves full of glass jars filled with strange concoctions and metal locked boxes that surely head fun secrets. 

Then there were the toys. These were playsets with built-in slides and ways to climb on or into it, mock treasure chests, and a trio of beautifully carved rocking horses, all far too big to fit in even the large bedrooms upstairs. From the ceiling hung two swings that been rolled up so they could be latched to the ceiling and kept out of the way. All of them were also covered by a thin layer of dust; no one had been played within a long time, which made Ashe a little sad, for some reason. They were truly beautiful and clearly made with love. 

_ 'Would Mr. Kravos mind if I played with them?' _ she wondered, easily imaging her guardian's half-a-dozen children and a dozen grandchildren playing on all these different toys. _ 'All of this seems like it would be more fun if there were other kids around though.' _

Still considering this train of thought, Ashe started up the first rungs of the ladder before something caught her eye and captured her interest enough that she dropped back down to the floor to investigate it. 

Tucked in the corner was something -or, upon closer inspection, two somethings, covered by a white canvas tarp. Curiously, and with more than a touch of caution, Ashe grabbed a hold of the tarp and pulled with all of her might. It was heavier than she thought it would be, so it took Ashe a while to pull it completely off, and that only made her curiosity grow. 

What she found underneath was... well, Ashe couldn't entirely say it was worth it, but what she found was definitely interesting.

One of the objects was some sort of straw dummy made up to look like a standing person with a target painted on it's 'chest' and 'head.' Ashe went closer, running her fingers over the dusty, tightly spun straw surface of the dummy, and realized that this thing had been around for a while and it looked like the poor thing had been through hell.

Some chunks of straw were a different color. Some areas had straw that was lighter and just looked... newer. It was like these sections had been replaced recently. The wooden frame holding the dummy up was also cracked and patched up in places.

"Someone beat you up pretty bad, huh?" Ashe wondered aloud, cocking her head to the side as she imagined the dummy with two black eyes, a busted nose, and a fat lip.

Leaving that behind, she moved to the second object, which was a wooden chest. The chest was a solid thing, far too big or heavy for Ashe to move. It was nearly as wide as Ashe was tall and clearly old with faded blue and gray paint. Many painted names covered the surface, some so old that the red paint had worn and faded to a dull brown while other names still stood out proud with bright, poppy red coloring. 

** Alesan **

** Runa **

** Blaise **

** Sofie **

** Hroar **

** Lucia **

** Samuel **

** Francois  **

** Sissel **

** Britte **

** Cyruson **

** Kelengar **

** Lalotta **

** Caicius **

** Lyon **

** Malia **

** Hedlar **

** Glatea **

** Kravia **

** Tarno **

** Volmer **

** Antosa **

** Aniskja **

_ 'His kids,' _ Ashe realized, tracing the name 'Kravia' with one finger.  _ 'These are his kids and grandkids, whatever is in here was theirs.' _

The chest wasn't locked, there was just a pair of brass twin latches. Biting her lip nervously and her heart pounding, Ashe grabbed a hold of the latches, undid them, and threw the chest's lid open. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

"Swords?" Ashe whispered, tilting her head to the side in confusion. 

Not real swords, of course, these were wooden swords made for play. Ashe had seen them before; toy swords weren't as popular as toy guns but some of the other kids back in the community had them. One of her best buddies, Isaac, loved those all pre-Commonwealth stories of pirates so much that he and Francis used to stage epic 'pirate battles' for the amusement of her, Sherry, and Missy. When she thought about it, Ashe understood why such toys were so popular and widespread among the little boys of the community.

_ 'Real, fancy toys are expensive. Most families could afford televisions or computers -Mama also said we were blessed to be able to afford a radio and some books- but some wood scraps, nails, and a few splashes of paint? Even the poorest families in the community could afford that,' _ she realized.  _ 'It's just like how Sherry, Missy, and I all had rag-dolls instead of porcelain ones like Gretchen Harich. Being the mayor's daughter does have its advantages, I suppose.' _

But the toy swords that belonged to her friends and the other boys of Tough Seed Farming Community, were crude wooden things, not particularly smooth or detailed or pretty no matter how much work the boys' parents would put into making them. Isaac's sword, which he insisted on naming 'Bluefin' for its bright blue paint job, was made from the bits of wood leftover from when his dad needed to patch up some holes in the roof of the family home. Despite the care that Mr. Moore had put into making it, the wood was poor quality and prone to splintering; it got so bad that Isaac had to wrap an old scrap of canvas held in place by thick tape around the handle to keep his hands from getting hurt. 

These wooden swords, however, were much nicer; in fact, they were absolute works of art. The toys had been beautifully created with a perfectly carved handle and in the 'blade' with a thick layer of protective finish to protect from weather damage. They were clearly old though, the finish had yellowed slightly and there was a thin layer of dust collected in the groves of the different carvings, but they were also clearly created with much love, skill, and care. 

_ 'They've also been played with a lot,'  _ Ashe mused. She ran her thumb down the 'blade' of one of the play swords as the pad of her small finger caught on the subtle dips and bumps in the wood. Her brow wrinkled as she examined them; Ashe had seen marks like this before, back when she had to help Papa repair the fence around their crops once.  _ 'These types of marks are made when wood knocks up against something real hard.'  _

Ashe lifted the top-most sword so she could see it better only to drop it almost immediately, quickly stepping to the side so it wouldn't land on her foot.

"Wow, heavy!" she exclaimed, crouching down and trying to pick it up again. Her arms shook under the weight of the heavy wooden toy, "This must have been a toy for a very big kid!"

Deciding to leave the toy sword where it was, for now, Ashe returned her attention to the chest and began sifting through the rest of the fake weapons. There were more toy swords, each one as beautifully detailed but beat up as the last, but there were other types of weapons too. There were fake knives with the edges smoothed just enough to prevent any real injury -though getting 'stabbed' by one would still probably leave a nasty bruise. A couple of really big hammers that could definitely hurt someone -Ashe didn't even risk trying to pick one of them up, she'd certainly drop it and the little girl didn't want to risk any broken toes. Some axes that were as pretty as they were scary look. Buried at the bottom of the chest, protecting three child-sized bows, each with a small matching quiver of blunted arrows, was five wooden shields, each only a little bigger than one of Mr. Kravos' serving platters. 

It took some work but Ashe was eventually able to pull out a shield painted silver with dark blue flowers that had been morphed and misshapen by repeated blows that left the surface covered in dents. It was heavy, Ashe noted as she slid her thin arm through the two leather straps fastened to the inner part of the shield, but not overly so and round in shape. 

"Too big for me," Ashe grumbled as the shield swung limply from her arm. "But I can hold it up... which means I'm getting a lot stronger! Still, I wondered who this belonged to?"

Sliding the shield off, Ashe turned in over in her hands to examine it from every angle. Eventually, a small name scrawled in black ink caught her eye.

"Runa... Runa Fair-Shield," she read aloud. "Huh, I guess it makes sense that a girl's shield would have flowers on it. Most girls don't like playing with swords and stuff, not of my friends ever did."

All this talking out loud to herself probably wasn't healthy, Ashe really wished she had another kid to play with.

Ashe could only imagine how Papa would have reacted if she had asked for a fake sword and shield for her birthday. He'd have probably taken her over his knee for such a ridiculous suggestion; in an admittedly dark way, it was actually kind of funny to imagine.

Still, I wasn't like Mr. Kravos' daughters and granddaughters didn't have more traditionally 'girly' toys; after all, the bedroom was packed to the brim with dolls, dollhouses, pretty dresses, tea playsets, rocking horses, and the like. But the fact that there was a chest full of toy weapons with all of his kids and grandkids name on them proved once more that there was something very different about Ashe's guardian.

"Ashe, sweetheart, you still down there?" 

_'Speak of the devil...'_ she thought, watching Mr. Kravos climb through the cellar hatch and down the ladder. 

Mr. Kravos hopped down the last few feet of the ladder, landing nibbly as a cat despite his more advanced age. As he turned around Ashe began to squirm as she realized that the evidence of her snooping was everywhere, plain to see. Again, Mr. Kravos had never shown any anger towards her and her curiosity-filled adventures had only ever been met with bemusement. The closest he ever got to anger was whenever Ashe tried to sneak her way into one of the various locked rooms of the house, a stern warning that if a room was locked then it was probably for a good reason. 

'The chest didn't have a lock, so I am probably good,' Ashe reassured herself. 'Right?'

And, once more, Ashe was proven right when Mr. Kravos looked around at all of the scattered toys...and smiled brightly. 

The man laughed and picked up the silver-painted wooden shield, turning it over in his broad, callous hands. "Oh, it's been years since I've seen this thing! Runa's first training shield... _ahhhh_ , I made this for her as a gift when I adopted her. She outgrew it in less than two years but was so attached to it that Runa refused a new one for a long time. She was stubborn like that, still is."

He said that last part with a fond, low chuckle, rubbing his thumb over the name. Ashe was unable to resist smiling as well. Mr. Kravos' voice was just so warm, so affectionate, and caring that it made her feel relaxed and loved just listening to his words. But then a certain word stuck out to her.

"Training?" she repeated back. "So these aren't toys?"

"Hmmm... no, not exactly," Mr. Kravos hummed, scratching his beard. "My kids and grandbabies played with them, of course. They played with them more than they should have to be safe; the kids were always smacking one another around, left awful bruises on each other and I even had to patch up a couple of broken noses. Oh, and don't even get me started on everything those rascals broke! By the gods, they could be absolute terrors, especially when I had to leave for a week or so to take care of business.

But, anyway, no. Technically speaking, these are not meant to be used as toys. All of these-" Mr. Kravos gestured to the still-open chest and the scattered wooden weapons "-were meant for martial training. That is why they are so heavy; I made them from solid wood so using them would help Runa and the other kids build-up the strength they needed. Then, once they'd grown a bit bigger and gotten strong enough, I'd make them a newer, heavier one so they'd keep getting stronger."

"Why?" Ashe asked, deciding that this may finally be the opportunity she needed to get some damn answers. "Why'd you wanted them to get stronger fighting with all these swords and stuff?"

"Because I was worried about them," Mr. Kravos answered plainly. "I... I lived a dangerous life when I was younger, Ashe. Skyrim is a dangerous enough place as is, full of vicious wildlife and bandits, but I was also an important man, someone with _a lot_ of enemies, and I knew that my children could have easily become a target so I wanted them to be able to protect themselves. Unfortunately, my fears were proven valid more than once. I'm just thankful that my kids were strong enough to protect themselves in those situations."

She felt her bottom lip quiver, but she pressed on, "...And your grandchildren? Why did you teach them?"

"Many of the same reasons," Mr. Kravos shrugged. "But, with them, sometimes it was just for fun. Some of them asked me for lessons so they could show off to their friends. I'll admit that it was a lot more fun teaching my grandchildren, even if they did rarely take it as seriously as their parents did."

"Did they enjoy learning to fight?" Ashe asked, recalling back to how Mama would always reprimand her whenever she caught Ashe wrestling or roughhousing with her friends. Ironically, her 'feisty spirit' was one of the few things Papa had praised Ashe for, even if would he still punish her for it more often than not. "Your kids, I mean."

"Some took to it all a lot quicker and with more enthusiasm than others," her guardian replied with another amused grin. "Samuel, Runa, and Hroar threw themselves into training the most, though Hroar came to prefer a bow as his primary weapon over a sword or ax. Alesan was also pretty dedicated to his training, though he was far more interested in learning how to sail than how to fight. It makes sense, I suppose; the boy was brought up as a sailor, after all, and any sailor worth his salt needs to know how to fend off pirates.

My little Blaise was tough and strong, he had to be to look after animals much bigger and stronger than him, but he's always had a gentle heart and wasn't much for violence. Britte was very... _aggressive_ but was not willing to listen to instruction, so I was extremely hesitant to teach her. Francois could take care of himself well enough, but neither he nor Lucia or Sofie were exactly born warriors; they all preferred to explore other areas of learning. Francios could easily spend an entire day curled up in the library reading, Lucia was deeply devoted to her singing lessons, and Sofie was always tending to the greenhouse or her private little garden. 

They all still learned, of course, I made sure of it no matter how much they whined or grumbled. But years of training passed and they all developed their own specialties, coming to prefer one weapon over the others. But they all did learn and most even came to enjoy it."

The old man nodded then, seemingly to himself, and looked lost in thought for a long moment. Then his eyes slid along the piles of wooden training weapons before flicking towards the straw dummy in the corner and finally looking back to Ashe.

"In fact..."

* * *

Ashe collapsed on her butt on the floor, leaning back against one of the cellar support beams, and panted, completely exhausted. Even this brief training session had left every muscle in her body burned, and she was sticky with sweat to the point that her hair was soaked with the stuff. She reached up to smooth back some loose, messy bangs and winced, her face scrunching up in disgust. 

" ** _Uck!_** " she whined, "I'm going to need another bath!"

Mr. Kravos laughed, a touch of sweat on his brow shining in the light as he swung his own wooden practice sword down around his legs. "I did warn you, martial training is hard work. Did you enjoy it though?"

Ashe panted and tapped her fingers against the training sword she'd been using. It was the smallest on that had been in the chest, lighter and thinner than all the rest with a dark red handle and slim, narrow 'blade.' 

"Yeah," she breathed, pressing her forehead against the cool wood of the support beam. "It was fun."

"Excellent," Mr. Kravos nodded as he turned and begun climbing back up the ladder. "Now, why don't you go and get washed up again? I still have to prepare our meal, and you should eat some meat after a work out like that. Water too! You should drink plenty of water after all that sweating."

"Okay," Ashe answered simply, already heading back into the washroom. 

It wasn't until she was nearly finished did Ashe realize that she missed her chance to question Mr. Kravos.

* * *

After the meal, a hearty scramble of eggs, bacon, onions, mushrooms, and chicken with a side of leeks and jam with toast, and cleaned up, Ashe pursed her lips, folded her hands, and stared Mr. Kravos dead in the eye.

"Mr. Kravos, may I ask you a question?" she asked politely. 

"Hmmm?" the man hummed as he dried off some wet plates. "Oh, yes, of course? What would you like to know?"

"I... I was wondering," Ashe swallowed hard and forced the question out. "I was wondering why you decided to train your kids and grandkids with all those weapons, with swords and axes in shields? Why did you train them to use guns? Those are far more common, wouldn't it be more useful for them all to learn to shoot?"

"Guns?" her guardian repeated, his voice sounding confused. The man hesitated for a long moment, his back still to Ashe, but continuing to dry the dishes. "Oh, well, I suppose I just trained them to use the same things I grew up learning to use. There weren't many... guns were I was born, so I never learned how to use them."

_'More half-truths,'_ Ashe thought, her anger rising. "And where was that again?"

"Wayrest."

"I've never heard of such a place, which is weird since you said it was a big city," Ashe continued, pushing forward. "So, it must be pretty far away, right?"

Mr. Kravos let out a dry chuckle, "Yes, I suppose that _is_ an accurate statement."

"Then how did you get to Far Harbor, to this island?"

The man froze once more before letting out a long, low sigh. "Ashe, I-"

"NO!" Ashe shouted, that bubbling anger finally rising to the surface. "I'M TIRED OF BEING TREATED LIKE AND IDIOT! NO MORE LIES, MR. KRAVOS! YOU EITHER TELL ME THE TRUTH OR I'LL... OR I'LL RUN AWAY FROM YOU!"

.

.

.

The old man let out another sigh, pinched the bridge of his nose, and said, "Fine."


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The old man let out another sigh, pinched the bridge of his nose, and said a defeated but firm, "Fine."

.

.

.

Ashe blinked, surprised that Mr. Kravos had actually agreed with her demands. "Oh... really? I mean, good! I deserve to know the truth!"

"That you do," her guardian nodded solemnly. 

Then he gestured towards one of the plush armchairs in front of the massive stone hearth of the manor's main fireplace. Silently, Ashe padded over and hopped up onto it, folding her hands in her laps and waiting as Mr. Kravos went into the kitchen and returned with a dark green glass bottle. He uncorked it and Ashe was hit by the strong, painfully familiar stench of alcohol.

_ 'Mr. Kravos isn't Papa,'  _ she reminded herself as she fought the urge to squirm as a hundred terrible memories flashed through Ashe's mind.  _ 'He is a grown man. Of course, he has a bit of booze every now and then but you've never even seen him drunk. There is no reason to believe he'll hurt you after he drinks a little.' _

She forced herself to remain as still as possible as Mr. Kravos took a long drink from the bottle, sat down, rubbed his face, and took a deep breath as he began his story. 

"Alright," he sighed, "this is going to be a long, confusing story and much of it will seem unbelievable. You will be confused, and you will have questions but I merely plead that you wait until I am finished before asking. After that... well, I'll do my best to answer any questions you have."

Forcing down her own confusion, curiosity, and excitement, Ashe nodded while digging her fingernails into the arms of the chair and rocking back and forth ever so slightly. 

Mr. Kravos took another swallow of his drink and started. "The story of how I came to be in this land is a complicated one but most of what I have told about my past is truthful, if not the complete truth. I was born in Wayrest, a city in the country of High Rock, to a baker and a soldier. I grew up helping my mother, Belladiana, in the bakery, helping her run the shop and learning to make all manner of delightful things from her. My father, Mercard, used to read me The Lost Lady's Love whenever I was sick or felt sad and died when I was fourteen. That was all true." 

"You must understand, Ashe, my childhood was completely normal," Mr. Kravos said earnestly, with a vigorous nod of his head. "It was normal and generally uneventful, aside from the occasional important political figure accompanying my father home for supper. Even when Pa was murdered... well, it was sad but, as I say, he had the ear of several important people and, in High Rock, that isn't exactly unusual. I had no reason to believe that my life... that I would be anything special."

The old man breathed a hard, shaky breath and his voice nearly broke, “"When Ma... when Ma died, I felt lost; I didn't know what to do with my life. For a while, I tried to keep the bakery going in her memory but it never felt right, nothing I ever baked tasted right, so I passed ownership of the business off my aunt, uncle, and cousins. My uncle, Cedlius, suggested that I join the military; honestly, I just think that he wanted to get me out of the way so that there'd be less of a question about their ownership of the bakery. Ma never did get along well with that side of the family.

But I could have done it, joined the military I mean. I would have done well in it; Pa had put me through martial training when I was younger and I had excelled at it, even if -at the time- it wasn't anything I was particularly interested in. I was of age, seventeen, so I could have easily joined the local chapter of the military and spent the next few years rising through the ranks and creating a reputation for myself. After some time, I could have found myself a proper wife, probably the daughter or younger sister of a superior officer, and started a family. It wouldn't have been hard; I would have been a good catch, after all, my family name was respected in the area and I had inherited a decent amount of money from my deceased parents. I could have had a nice, normal life.

But I didn't do that.

I didn't want anything to do with the military; I didn't want anything to do with High Rock in general. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful land and wonderful country in many ways, but things like my father being assassinated for the people he knew and the political opinions he had are not uncommon. I didn't want that to be my future. 

So I left. 

For the next two years, I just wandered about the different countries of Tamriel. When I needed money or became ill or just got tired of being on the road I would stop in different places, sometimes in towns or cities but sometimes just in little farming settlements or fishing villages. I'd stay for a while -days, weeks, or even months- and do whatever work was available to make some money. I learned many skills and made a lot of interesting friends during this time. It was a decent way to live, lonely at times but far from unpleasant.

Then, when I was nineteen, I tried to cross the board into the country of Skyrim. You have to understand, I had been avoiding it during my travels because there had been a great deal of civil unrest due to religious differences between the Nords -that is the people of Skyrim- and the Empire, the greater governing body of Tamriel. A civil war was brewing; the people and families were torn apart by the growing conflict. The only reason I decided to risk crossing the border was that an old family friend was nearby the bordering crossing. 

It went badly. 

There was a skirmish between the rebel soldiers and those loyal to the Empire. Even though I had nothing to do with the conflict but caught up in it anyway and, in the end, was knocked out and captured."

With that, Mr. Kravos parted a section of his hairs and bent over to show off a white, long-healed scar. "Needless to say, that wasn't a fun day. Even less so when I woke up in a cart surrounded by several other prisoners. 

We were to be executed. 

The soldiers took us to a town called Helgen and one-by-one, they began beheading us. They were ready to kill me too, despite the fact that my name was not one the list of scheduled executions; one of the soldiers, Hadvar, tried to protest but was overruled. He was a good man, Hadvar, and one of my closest friends for years until he died about a decade ago; he even named one of his sons after me, the old sap."

Mr. Kravos' voice was wistful and his smile was sad as he recounted his old friend. It was at that moment that Ashe came to the realization that her guardian had not only outlived his parents -which, in and of itself wasn't too unusual- but had undoubtedly outlived many friends and lovers. 

_ 'That has to weigh on you,'  _ Ashe thought mournfully. 

Obviously, she knew that her guardian was an old man, one of the oldest she'd ever seen, but Ashe had never  _ really  _ considered what that meant. How many funerals had Mr. Kravos attended? How many bedsides had he stood vigil by as someone he loved slipped into the afterlife? How many graves had he put flowers on? How many loved ones had he said goodbye to?

Ashe doubted the man would ever truly say, ever truly share his grief, and anything she'd ever learn would have to come from the odd anecdote or story someone else would let out. 

_ 'If I ever do get to meet the other people in his life,' _ she added mentally.  _ 'There is no telling he'll actually want to keep me after the fit I just threw.' _

"So there I was, with my head on the chopping block and staring up at the sky for what I honestly believed would be the last time ever, and then... chaos. Fire, death, destruction... it was everywhere. The screaming, the shouting... it was so damn ** loud! ** But I managed to escape in all of the confusion, with Hadvar, actually, and made our way to a nearby village. 

The story after that is very, very long... far too long for me to tell you all of it in only one day and, please excuse me for saying so, much of it is much to mature for you to hear. But, eventually, I ended up in the closest city and warned the local ruler, a very important man, of an incoming threat. The man, Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, was thankful and asked me to complete another pressing task for him. I did so -quite impressively, I might add- and Balgruuf was even more grateful. My shoulder was injured though, quite badly, and even with the... medics available in Whiterun, it would take a while for me to recover; that meant I couldn't leave the country as I originally intended. Feeling bad about the injury and as thanks for my assistance, Balgruuf invited me to stay in his palace with his family until I recovered, which wound up taking a while. During that time, Balgruuf decided to take me under his wing. In so many ways, he is responsible for shaping me into the man I am today, even more so than my own father. 

While recovering, I took to spending my time just wandering the city and meeting its people. The Nords of Skyrim are stern, taciturn, and gruff -they are rarely welcoming to outsiders, even those who are a personal guest of their Jarl- but, after a few... let's call them minor favors, they started warming up to me and I to them. Pretty soon I found myself growing fond of Skyrim, despite the dreary weather and the often tasteless food, and, after about half-a-year, I realized that I didn't want to leave. 

So I decided to buy a house in the city; by that time, I had saved up enough payment from the different tasks, favors, and odd jobs I had done that I could afford to buy a small home. The house, Breezehome, was a bit of a fixer-upper, the outer-walls were thin and full of cracks that needed to be patched up and re-enforced, but I didn't mind the project. So Lydia... the bodyguard Balgruuf hired to protect me, and I got to work fixing the place up by cleaning out the cobwebs, putting up shelves, decorating, scrubbing the floors, adding a new fireplace, fixing the walls, bringing in new furniture, and the like. Pretty soon I was like a brand new building. 

It was a good thing we worked so quickly too because it seems that almost as soon as the new layer of paint on the walls had dried, I ended up adopting my first child -Lucia."

Mr. Kravos said the name with a reverent kind of warmth, like those five letters were the most valuable thing in the world to him. Ashe couldn't remember anyone, aside from maybe Mama, had ever talked about her like that.

"She was a little Imperial girl -only nine years old at the time- that I met while she was begging in the park. I gave her a coin and asked her why she was begging, only for her to run away. It took a while, a good amount of money, to earn her trust but, eventually, Lucia told me how her father was a Legion soldier who'd had a brief relationship with her mother whilst stationed in Skyrim; she'd never met him and only knew his name. 

So Lucia was raised by a single mother who'd recently died, and that her aunt and uncle kicked her out when they took over her mother's farm. At only eight years, Lucia hitched a ride with a traveling salesman into Whiterun, thinking that, because it was a walled city, she'd be safer there. But she still had no money, so a local drunk, Brenuin, helped her and taught Lucia how to beg. She lived on the streets for a year before she became my daughter.”

Mr. Kravos trailed off, his eyes distant. The man looked lost in his memories; it was the same look Papa always had whenever the baby he and Mama had and then lost before Ashe was ever born came up in conversation with neighbors. The only difference was after Papa finished being sad, he drank and then got mean. Mr. Kravos was never mean; he was stern sometimes, sure, but never mean. 

"I developed a life in Skyrim, one bigger and grander than I ever imagined, as the years passed. I met friends and lovers; I made enemies and allies. Some friends turned to enemies and some enemies turned to allies. I joined various factions and worked my way up the ranks, coming to lead many of them. I did many favors for many important people, earning money and a sizable reputation for myself. A civil war did eventually break out and I helped fight against the rebels. We -the Legion, I mean... though I was a part of it, a high ranking officer by the end of it- squashed the rebellion and I killed the leader, Ulfric Stormcloak. I took no pleasure in doing so; while I disagreed with him on many things but I also admired how fiercely Ulfric was willing to fight for what he believed was best for his people. 

Before I knew it, I was an important man as well. With that status came even more money as well as property and political perks. Using those assets, I tried to help as many people as possible; I had come to love Skyrim and its people so deeply, I wanted to do whatever I could to protect them. As it turns out, part of this was taking in more children. There were so many orphans in Skyrim... I couldn't adopt all of them, of course, so many ended up at an orphanage that I provided for. But there was a handful that I just couldn't bring myself to turn over, so I ended up raising them myself. By this point, I'm sure you've heard enough about them to drive you mad."

Ashe let out a soft huff of dry laughter at that. I was a true enough statement, Ashe did get tired of hearing the stories of his kids and grandkids. But, honestly, some of that was just due to her own jealousy. 

"Time dragged on and the land turned peaceful. My children grew, they became adults and eventually started their own lives; some got married, had kids of their own, some started their own businesses, and some decided to travel just as I had done. Friends, allies, comrades, and lovers aged around me... some died, some just moved away but my life still changed. It grew stale and I became bored. I took up many challenges and hobbies in an attempt to re-energize my life but they never satisfied me for long.

Recently, I grew desperate and decided to try something... extreme, something that was only ever rumored to be possible. That something brought me here."

He went quiet then, the conversation carrying off into the air and dissipating like the mist of morning dew evaporating under the hot sun. Rather than continuing on with his story again, Mr. Kravos just stared at her, his brow drawn tight and pensive with his hands threaded together and pressed to his mouth. It took Ashe far too long to realize that he was waiting for her to speak, that he wanted Ashe to say or ask something.

Still, it took Ashe far too long to find her words. But, eventually, she managed to stutter a few out. 

"I... I've never heard of most of these places," she started. "Are they very far away?"

Mr. Kravos snorted, "Yes, that is one way of putting it. But I know that isn't what you really want to ask. You can speak freely now, Ashe. Ask whatever you need."

Ashe swallowed hard, her heart nearly thudding out of her little chest. "H-how did you get here?"

The man frowned, suddenly seeming older and more tired than he ever had before. But then he opened his mouth and tore everything Ashe knew apart in one word. 

"Magic."

.

.

.

"You're lying."

Mr. Kravos' looked startled, "What?"

Ashe felt tears start to form as her throat swelled and grew hot, "You're lying! You promised me that you'd tell the truth but you are  _ still  _ lying to me!"

"No, Ashe, I swear that I'm being honest. I know it is hard to believe but everything I said is true!" the old man stood up and went to hug her but Ashe lept up from her chair and bolted toward the front door. 

"Ashe, don't leave!"

Despite the genuine pleading in Mr. Kravos' voice, the little girl threw the door open and, through her tears, shrieked, " ** I HATE YOU! ** "

Then she ran.

Ashe ran faster than she ever had before, darting through the trees. She stumbled one, falling to her hands and knees in the mud, before forcing herself up as continuing in her flight. But, seeing as the island wasn't particularly large, it wasn't long before Ashe found herself collapsing on the thin, rocky shoreline. 

She wept openly; heavy, fat tears rolled down her face as her choked sobs echoed across the inlet. Ashe had never cried more in her life, not even when Mama died or Papa hit her for the first time or when she was thrown out of the house. Which was weird, because, logically, those things should be far worse than a couple of little white lies told by a kind man who'd gone above and beyond taking care of Ashe. 

Still, she just felt so betrayed!

_ 'I trusted him!'  _ Ashe screamed into her mind. 

As the tears continued to flow, the sun inched its way across the sky until it was late afternoon. Finally, the sobs turned to sniffles as it seemed that Ashe had cried out all of the water in her body. Every part of her body ached and she was thirsty but still refused to go back to the house. She was still angry. 

"I'll sleep outside if I have too," Ashe grumbled defiantly to herself, huddling in on herself to fight back the nighttime chill that was already setting in. "It is not like I haven't done it before."

_ Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! _

The sounds of footsteps on rocky sand caused Ashe to freeze... then the anger returned.

"I'm not talking to you!" Ashe snapped, definitely glaring towards the water and refusing to look behind her. 

_ Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! _

The steps got closer.

"I said that I'm not-  **_ errmmmphf! _ ** " 

A massive hand covered Ashe's mouth as a hairy arm wrapped around her waist, lifting the girl up into the air as she kicked out desperately. 

Hot, smelly breath blew over Ashe's face as a male voice rasped out, "You look worth a pretty penny."


	17. Chapter Seventeen

" ** LET! ME! GO! ** " Ashe shrieked, having finally forced the gag out of her mouth using her tongue and teeth to leverage it free. Her hands and ankles were still tied and she was still blindfolded with a rough strip of canvas tied behind her head. " ** MR. KRAVOS, HELP! HELP ME, PLEASE! ** "

"Shut up, brat!" the harsh, vicious voice of her captor growled as he slapped a rough, callous palm over Ashe's mouth.

She promptly bit down with all her might. 

" **_ OW! _ ** " the man roared, jerking his hand away. "You little bitch! I'll teach you a le-"

"Carver, knock it off," another male voice cut in sharply.

"The brat bit me!"

"What part of 'leave it' don't you understand!" 

The second voice was strong and steady, dominant like the mayor of Tough Seed Farming Community, old Gerald Harich, had always been. Ashe got the sense that Voice #2 was used to being obeyed, a feeling that was confirmed when Voice #1, her captor, stood down with a grumbled agreement. 

"We can't go damaging the goods."

Ashe's blood ran cold. 

Goods. 

That is what they were calling her. 

She remembered what Voice #1 had said to her earlier -"You look worth a pretty penny."- and her heart sank as Ashe's stomach twisted into tight knots. It wasn't as if she knew what a 'penny' was -Mama said that it was a phrase from before the Commonwealth existed- but Ashe knew that it was about money. Voice #1 was talking about her worth and that meant one thing.

** Slavers.  **

Slavery was rarer in the Commonwealth than in other parts of the country, but Ashe, even with her young age and relatively sheltered upbringing, knew that the practice was still alive and well. Papa had warned Ashe of it often; he had explained that the Tough Seed Farming Community was fairly safe from such things because the mayor paid not only a 'protection' tax to a group of slavers to keep them away from the community but also a fee to a freelance militia group to patrol and protect everyone. He warned her that, if Ashe were to ever stray from the borders of Tough Seed, she'd surely be snapped up by some unsavory character in a heartbeat. Warning her of that had been one of Papa's few kindnesses to Ashe throughout her entire life, even if he just said it to scare her. 

In the end, though, the danger of slaver caravans didn't stop Papa from throwing her out.

Ashe was dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, her knees hitting hard against a rusty metal surface, and she let out an "Umpf!" even as the girl tried to gather her wits. 

Though she couldn't see or even move well, due to her hands and feet still being bound, Ashe tried to scramble away from the voice. She wiggled with all of her might but only managed to get a foot or so before being grabbed by two sets of hard, grubby hands.  The hands groped at her body, pulling at her hands, feet, arms, and legs. Ashe squirmed, feeling sick as the touch. Perhaps it was a summation of the sucky situation but she felt grateful at the almost... professional feeling of the hands as they examined her. 

"She has all of her hands and toes," Voice #1 declared, "and her skin is good, a couple of scars maybe but no open sores or lesions. No signs of illness or radiation poisoning either, and she is in good shape."

He actually had the gall to sound  _ proud _ , the bastard!

"Good catch, must have been a rich kid," Voice #2 mumbled as he forced a callous thumb into Ashe's mouth. Ashe bit down as hard as she could but this time she got no response; the man seemed completely unbothered by her actions. "She has all of her teeth too, that is rare."

Ashe growled -it felt better to be angry than it was to cry- and bit down hard. She couldn't say if this had any real effect but the thumb was pulled from her mouth, leaving behind the bad taste of salt, dirt, and spit. The respite was only brief though because then there was a hard hand in her hair, pulling it and examining her scalp.

"The color of her hair is unique," he observed. "Some buyers take pride in having a collection of unique looking slaves so that'll add to her value."

_ 'Value? I am not a thing!'  _ she thought spitefully, doing her best to fight back the tears and the fears. 

Then the blindfold was pulled from her eyes and Ashe was forced to squint as the light hit her suddenly. She blinked hard a few times and her stomach turned as she looked up at the two grinning faces that leered down at Ashe. 

"Well, that is a pretty part of baby blue eyes," Voice #2 cooed grossly as he roughly cupped Ashe's chin. Horribly, he didn't look anything like the monster he was; the man had neatly trimmed hair and was clean-shaven, matching in simple yet durable clothes he was wearing. But there was still something dark in his eyes, a malicious gleam that set him apart from any other average-looking middle-aged man living in the Commonwealth. "Why don't you smile for us, Sweetheart?"

**_ Ptooey! _ **

Summoning all the courage Ashe had in her little body, she glared viciously as the wad of spit landed square on Voice #2's cheek. It was a small, petty, almost certainly foolish thing, but it all she could do to take back any power in this situation. 

The smirk slid off of Voice #2’s face and his expression went stony. He didn't look angry, exactly, even as he wiped the spit away, but rather there was a deep intensity that scared Ashe more than anything so far. She felt her knees shake as Voice #1 grab her by the shoulders, pinning Ashe in place, as Voice #2 pulled something about the size and shape of a candy bar out of his pocket as he approached like a stalking predator. 

"Now, Sweetheart, I want to make something extremely clear," Voice #2 growled, his face still impassive. "I will not tolerate any disrespect or troublemaking on my watch. You will be obedient and respectful to me and my men. You will speak when spoken to and obey any instructions you are given. Do I make myself clear?"

Ashe glared up through her bangs and hiss, "And if I don't?"

That got her a mockingly sweet smile, "Well, there are many ways we can make your stay with us harder... and plenty of ways we can hurt you without damaging your value."

And with that, he pressed one end of the small metal device he pulled out of his pocket against the bare skin of Ashe's arm and pressed a button.

**_ "AHHHHHHHH!" _ **

Excruciating pain, like nothing Ashe had never experienced before, shot through her body. It only lasted a few brief moments but the agony was overwhelming. Despite everything she'd been through in her short life, all the hardships she had faced, this was the first time that Ashe ever wished she was dead. Then, hopefully, the pain of being shocked full of electricity would end. 

Even when Voice #2 pulled the device away and the shocking stop, the pain was still there. Ashe's body ached and tingled; she could barely keep her eyes open and nausea curled in her stomach, threatening to bubble up her throat. Ashe held it down though, figuring that throwing up would probably get her punished. 

Ashe's knees gave out, leaving Voice #1's grip on her shoulders as the only thing holding her up, and her eyes started to droop. 

"Now, I think it is time that you learn that to be quiet and obedient," she heard Voice #2 declared smugly. "It'll serve you well in the long run."

Then Ashe passed out. 

* * *

"Is she still breathing?"

" _ Shhhhh _ , Westley, don't poke her!"

**_ 'Mama?' _ **

An older female voice broke full the bleak fog of Ashe's fitful sleep, dredging up memories of her mother's soft kisses and warm hugs. "Ma..." she croaked, her eyelids starting to twitch open. 

When she was finally forced into the harsh, uncaring arms of consciousness, the first thing Ashe noticed was a bare, lite lightbulb hanging from the ceiling that was rhythmically swaying back and forth. After another long moment, Ashe realized that she too was moving up and down in a constant rocking motion. 

_ 'A boat,' _ she realized. _ 'I'm on a boat.' _

That made sense, Ashe supposed. After all, Mr. Kravos' little island was out in the water, at least a mile from the docks of Far Harbor. The only way her captors could have gotten there and then gotten her away from it was by boat. But...

_ 'If I'm on a boat then how will Mr. Kravos find me?'  _ she wondered.  _ 'You can't track something over water!' _

**_ 'If he even cares to find you,'  _ ** a spiteful voice hissed.  **_ 'He might not bother after you were so awful to him.' _ **

The very idea of being forgotten, the very possibility of being discarded by another... by another **_father_ **made it feel like something inside Ashe's chest broke, causing her to curl in on herself. The internal admittance that she'd grown to love Mr. Kravos compounded the hurt even more because she was faced with the prospect of losing that bond. 

"No," she whispered. "No, I refused to believe that. Mr. Kravos is a good man; he cares about me and would never let something happen to me. I bet he is out there right now, tracking me down with Rena at his side."

Saying the words out loud made them more real. It was a shallow comfort, but it was comfort nonetheless. Ashe squeezed her eyes shut and imagined wrapping the words around herself like a blanket as she rolled onto her side. There was a thin matt under her body that was just soft and thick enough to be relatively comfortable. In fact, before the months she spent sleeping in her cozy bed at Mr. Kravos' house, it would have probably felt like a dream but, after being spoiled for so long, it felt comfortable and cold. 

_ 'I'll be alright,'  _ she told herself. _ 'I just need to endure until Mr. Kravos finds me.' _

Trying to remember the bedtime breathing techniques that her guardian had taught her, Ashe tried to relax and slow her breathing. She didn't necessarily want to sleep, but Ashe knew that she needed to calm down as soon as possible so that she could be better at gathering information about her situation. The more level-headed she could be meant that when Mr. Kravos inevitably came to save her, Ashe could be of more use to him.

Then something touched her shoulder and Ashe let out a blood-curdling scream, very nearly jumping out of her skin as she scrambled away. 

" _Nonono!_ Don't scream, Sweetheart! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!"

Ashe turned and looked up, every nerve on end, to see a brunette woman holding her hands up in the universal sign of non-aggression. She had a nervous look on her pale face and kept holding her finger up to her lips in the ' _ shhhhhh _ ' motion as her eyes kept darting upward. The look on her face caused Ashe to pause; the woman didn't look threatening -slender, short, and in maybe her late twenties wearing a light blue dress- but that didn't mean much.

If Ashe had learned one thing in her short life, it was that appearances didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. After all, Papa had been a handsome, clean-shaven man who always took pride in looking clean and tidy; he'd always done more than his fair share of work around the community and was often the first to volunteer for difficult projects. To most in the Tough Seed Farming Community, Henry Rydinger had been a dependable neighbor, a good family man, and a model citizen. 

If only they knew...

Still, there was something in the woman's blue eyes, something that seemed truly genuine, that gave Ashe pause. 

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice low and suspicious. 

The woman smiled, small and fragile, as she crouched down closer to Ashe's eye-level. "I'm Wendy, Wendy Parks. You can call me Miss Wendy if you'd like; that is what my students called me."

"You're a teacher?"

"I wa..." the woman trailed off before biting her bottom lip and nodding. "Yes, Sweetheart, I am. Can you tell me your name?"

Ashe bit the inside of her cheek, uncertain. "...I'm Ashley."

Miss Wendy nodded enthusiastically and it was only now that Ashe realized that the woman had a large red mark that stretched from her left temple to the corner of her mouth and down to underneath her ear. It didn't look like a bruise or slap mark or anything like that, instead, it looked like that patch of skin was just tinted red. She was still very pretty though, Ashe decided, even if she seemed very high strung. 

Though, all things considering, that was probably to be expected. 

"Where are we?" Ashe decided to risk asking. She still wasn't sure she couldn't trust the woman and figured this question would allow her to gauge how much else she should reveal. "Where are we going?"

"We're on a boat, of course," Miss Wendy replied, her voice so high pitched and chipper that it actually made Ashe cock an eyebrow. "We are all going on an adventure together. Isn't that exciting?"

"An... adventure?" she repeated, dubious. 

"Absolutely!" the woman nodded enthusiastically. "We're playing a game for now though. We've got to be as quiet as possible."

_ 'Does she think I'm an idiot?'  _ Ashe wondered incredulously. But, rather than ask such a thing, the girl instead asked, "What do you mean, 'we'?"

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you," Miss Wendy muttered to herself before turning. "It's alright, come out you three."

For the first time, Ashe truly looked around. She was in a large room, the walls, ceiling, and floor all made from the same rough, gray metal. The room was sparse, with only several of the same blue mats she was on and a couple of crates. There was a single door in the room... well, doorway; the empty door frame was only covered by a simple white sheet. 

At Miss Wendy's call, the sheet was pushed aside and three children emerged from the other room. Two of the children, a little brunette girl, and a blond boy, both younger than Ashe, immediately ran to Miss Wendy's side.

"This is Ethan and Cindy," the woman said warmly, smoothing a hand down each of the children's heads as she pulled them close. "And that-" she nodded toward the final child, another boy but this one older than Ashe with dark skin and curly black hair "is Westley."

The boy, Westley, still hovered by the doorway. He watched Ashe with suspicious dark eyes but, after a moment, seemed to deem her acceptable and gave her a small nod.

"Everyone, this is Ashley," Miss Wendy said. "She is going to be our new friend."

"Hi Ashley," Ethan and Cindy both said shyly. Then Cindy looked up at Miss Wendy, "Mommy, I'm thirsty."

_ 'Mommy?'  _ Ashe's eyes went wide and she fought the urge to cry. 

"Okay, sweetie," Miss Wendy nodded, cupping her daughter's cheek. "Let's get you some water. Do you want something to eat or drink, Ashley?"

"...No, I'm fine." She still wasn't ready to trust anything the woman gave her.

With another nod, Miss Wendy waved Ethan and Cindy into the other small room. Ashe and Westley both watched them go then, after an awkward moment of staring at each other, Westley shuffled over to her. 

He sat down by her side and leaned close, "You know the whole 'adventure' thing is bullshit, right?"

Ashe scoffed, "Yeah, obviously."

Satisfied that she wasn't an idiot, Westley nodded, "Miss Wendy is just trying to keep us calm, especially the little kids, but these guys are going to sell us soon. And that is just if we're lucky and they don't have something worse planned for us."

"Yeah, probably," Ashe sighed darkly, curling back in on herself. "How long have you been here?"

"Not sure... I think three full days but I'm probably on my fifth," Westley replied, scrunching up his forehead. When Ashe gave him a confused look, he pointed toward a closed square hatch in the ceiling. "They lower us down food on a pretty regular basis. I figure that three meals equal a day, right? They took me mid-afternoon and I got one meal before I passed out. Then I had nine meals which I guess equals three days. We'd already been fed twice before you were tossed down here, so I think this is day five for me. I'm not sure how much longer Miss Wendy and the little kids have been here though."

"Oh." Well, if they'd been eating the food for that long without issue then it was probably alright. 

"So, where did they get you from?" Wes asked. "I think we've been heading south, but I'm not sure."

"A little island off of Far Harbor," Ashe shrugged. "I can't give you the exact location on a map or anything though." 

Despite her answer, the older boy perked up. "Far Harbor? That is only a few days away from my folks' farm! I can get back to th..."

Westley trailed off and slumped down, any hope re-sparked within him having been harshly snuffed out. 

Ashe frowned and scooted closer. "We'll be alright, I know it. My guardian is going to be looking for me and he... he is _really_ strong."

All she got in return was a scornful snort. 

* * *

A trail of translucent, pale blue magical energy hung in the air, stretching out across the water from the rocky shoreline where the old Dragonborn stood, clad in armor and ready for battle. He looked down at his loyal canine companion who sat at attention, muscles tense and teeth bared with her own leather armor covering the Lakeview Shepard's vital organs, and growled, "Let's go get our girl."


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter deals with some dark themes like human trafficking, s*xual abuse, and slavery. Proceed at your own discretion.

Just as Westley had said, sometime after Ashe had woken up -there was no way of knowing for sure how long had passed, but Ashe suspected it was about two hours- the ceiling hatch opened, revealing the cloudy night sky, and a thin platform was lowered down via a pulley system. The chains clinked against in the pulley and, once the platform got low enough, Ashe caught a glance of Voice #1's hairy, ugly face.

The slaver noticed Ashe's glare and gave her a nasty smirk that he coupled with a dirty wink. A shiver of disgust ran through her body, his leering eyes crawling over the girl's skin, and Ashe snarled, her lips curling in disdain and she gave him a rude gesture. 

"Stupid bitch," she overheard Voice #1 grumble and Ashe bite back a nasty reply.  _ 'Poor Mr. Slaver, getting his feelings hurt by little old me.' _

The platform landed on the metal floor with a small crash that had the little basket full of wrapped food packages and five bottles shaking with the impact. Silently, Miss Wendy scrambled to gather up the bottles and the basket, putting those to her side before retrieving another basket from beside another sleeping mat -presumably her own- that was filled with food wrappers and four empty bottles. She placed the basket on the center of the platform and called up towards the still-open hatch, "Thank you!"

_ 'She is thanking those bastards? _ ' Ashe wondered, grinding her teeth together in a snark. _ 'Why?' _

The one nice thing about the hatch being opened -aside from the food delivery- was the rush of fresh sea air that swept into the room. For a brief moment, Ashe let herself relax and breathe it in deeply; it was a hollow imitation of peace, and she knew that, but it still felt nice to pretend. 

It didn't last long, however, as Miss Wendy's expression of gratitude went unanswered and the platform was quickly pulled up. Once it was finally completely raised, the hatch was closed with a harsh, metallic  **_thud_ ** , returning their little room - **PRISON!** \- to the dim light provided by the single glass bulb and the stale air of an enclosed space. The metallic clattering echoed through the room, eventually fading into silence; a silence that turned so sense and palpable that it could've been cut with a knife. 

The four kids and Miss Wendy all stared up at the hatch, quiet as the grave, until Miss Wendy's took a shuddering breath and forced a smile. "Well, who is hungry?"

Westley and Ashe said nothing but little Ethan and Cindy both starting to squawk out pleads for treats, scrambling towards her with their small hands outstretched. Miss Wendy indulged them patiently, patting their heads and cooing, but after a moment she tutted out, "Now, now, that is not polite. You both know how to ask for things properly."

Ethan and Cindy were both quiet for a second; they looked at one another, and then looked back to their mother. "Can we  _ please  _ have some treats, Mama?"

"Of course," Miss Wendy replied sweetly, smoothing a hand down Ethan's cheek, "We'll all have a nice supper together. But you all need to go wash up first."

Then she patted the two little kids on the back, gently pushing them in the direction of the second room, before turning back to the basket of food. Ethan and Cindy padded off to do as instructed; Ashe watched them go but had no intention of following, at least not until Westley took her by the arm and pulled her up. 

"Come on," he mumbled, nodding his head in the direction of the door. "Let's go wash up."

Ashe raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to argue, but Westley just shook his head and whispered. "Just... play along. It makes Miss Wendy and the kids happy."

Despite not feeling any particular obligation to continue the facade that Miss Wendy was putting on, Ashe still didn't feel cruel enough to break it just yet so she just nodded her head and followed the boy. If nothing else, then everyone remaining calm would make it easier for Ashe to formulate an escape. 

_ 'An I will escape,'  _ Ashe vowed to herself.  _ 'Even if Mr. Kravos can't find me... even if my words hurt him so badly that he doesn't think to come after me, I will escape and make my way back to him. If it is the last thing I do, I will apologize and thank Mr. Kravos for all he has done for me.' _

The vow firmly imprinted in her mind, Ashe followed her new... friend? Companion? Fellow prisoner? Potential ally? into the next room. To her surprise, it was a small bathroom with a toilet, sink with mirror & bar of soap, and even a skinny little shower stall. 

"For a slaver ship, this place is nicer than most of the places I've lived," Ashe mumbled, reveling in the little bit of gallows humor. 

Westley snorted, "Same. My family home does have running water. My guess is they want to keep us calm and... in good shape."

Ashe glanced at Westley out of the corner of her eye, looking him over. He looked like a normal, healthy boy. There were no boils or lessons on his skin, he had all of his hair, and didn't look starved or ill; if she didn't know any better, Ashe could have 100% believed that he was a boy from Tough Seed. 

"Did they say you'd sell for a high price too?" she asked, being to go through the motions of washing her hands.

"Yeah," the boy grunted. "They said that I'd be a valuable laborer, especially since I already knew about farming."

"Well, it is good to know that my father was wrong when he said I was worthless," Ashe tried to joke, forcing a weak smile.

Westley just gave her an unamused look... then burst out laughing. "I suppose that is one way of looking at things."

"Westley? Ashley?" Miss Wendy called out. "Are you two alright?"

"We're fine!" they both called out.

"Okay, come on out. I've got the food ready." 

Ashe wasn't entirely sure that she was willing to eat anything the slavers provided just yet, but she was still curious to see what kind of meal Miss Wendy had whipped up. So, without complaint, she trailed after Westley back into the main room where she could see that the teacher had arranged some of the crates into a mock table, even dropping a sheet over them like a tablecloth. Miss Wendy had arranged it so everyone's 'place' had a small stack of ration bars in addition to a bottle of mystery drink, and a tin cop of some sort of steaming soup that, at the very least, smelt nice. 

"Oh good," she smiled at them. "Come sit down and eat. You especially must be hungry, Ashley."

"I'm fine, just a little-" Westley elbowed her in the ribs and Ashe trailed off. She looked up at Miss Wendy's painfully eager face and forced a smile, "Yes, I am. Thank you."

And that was how Ashe found herself sitting cross-legged and staring at the pile of food in front of her. She didn't want to touch it; for one, Ashe obviously didn't trust the source it came from, and, secondly, her pride was doing battle against her stomach; she didn't want to feel any gratitude towards the people who'd taken her.

**_Ggggrrrrrr!_ **

But she was hungry and, well, Ashe needed her strength. 

"Ashley, are you alright, dear?" Miss Wendy asked, her eyes soft with concern.

Not wanting to deal with any coddling or pressing, Ashe forced a smile and picked up one of the ration bars. The wrapping was a shiny blue and tore away easily, revealing the insides; Ashe inspected the food carefully, it looked fresh enough -at the very least, there was no mold- and didn't appear to have been tampered with in any way. So, after a moment of stealing her resolve and taking in a deep breath, Ashe took a big bite.

_ 'Not bad,'  _ she thought to herself as she gnawed on the tough bit of food. It was some sort of nut base mixed with a -probably artificial- fruit paste that held it together. _ 'Doesn't taste poisoned, at least.'  _

It took a long time to chew the bit into a swallowable mush and force it down her throat. It wasn't that the food tasted awful -far from it, actually; it tasted like a pleasant enough combination of sweet and salty- but it was tacky and hard to chew, sticking to her teeth and forming into a ball at the roof of her mouth. 

After eating only half of the bar, Ashe was forced to pick up the bottle and, after a long moment of hesitation, take the smallest sip possible. The liquid tasted like a thin, extremely watered-down fruit juice with a dash of salt mixed in. Ashe's lip puckered but she swallowed hard.  _ 'Not awful... but not tasty either.' _

The very thought actually made Ashe snort with amusement. How spoiled she had gotten during her time with Mr. Kravos? Before coming to live with her guardian -and even at some points when she was still residing at Tough Seed- Ashe would have gladly scarfed down this entire bar without a second thought. Hell, at one point, she'd even survived by stealing a giant box of some similar ration bars from a construction site. The workers had caught her and pelted Ashe with rocks as she scrambled away; the bruises from the encounter had lasted for weeks but Ashe hadn't starved that day and that was all that mattered. 

So, keeping that in mind, Ashe ate everything in front of her, not wasting a single crumb. _ 'It could always be worse.' _

* * *

_ 'Five meals. Five meals and two 'nights' sleep.' _

Ashe hugged her legs closer to herself as she stared up longingly at the hatch above her, a thin crease of light pouring out from cracks in the metal. 

The past two days -as much as she could figure, Westley was right about it being hard to track the passage of time in their cage- had been hard. She wasn't ever completely hungry, but she never felt completely full either. They could keep themselves clean and always had water via the sink in the bathroom, but it always tasted a bit strange and Ashe didn't want to risk drinking too much of it. Their captors were 'kind' enough to provide some blankets and pillows for sleeping, but she still felt too cold and too uncomfortable to sleep well. There were even some toys for entertainment, a couple of dolls and some bouncy balls. 

It could be worse... It  **HAD** been worse for Ashe in the past, but that didn't change the fact she was still being held captive by slavers. 

"I wonder how much further we are from home?" Westley whispered, curled up beside her. 

Ashe shrugged, "I wonder how much further they are going to take us?"

Try as she might, Ashe felt the hope she had for rescue... for escape slipping away. Sure, she'd probably have a better chance of escaping captivity once -and  _ if-  _ they reached land again, but that wasn't a guarantee and, as the days passed, the weaker and more compliant Ashe felt herself getting. 

_ 'I have to hold on,' _ she reaffirmed to herself. _ 'I owe Mr. Kravos that much.' _

* * *

Ashe felt trouble the moment she heard the hatch creek open. Hard as it was to gauge the passage of time, Ashe's internal clock told her that it was too soon for the 'mid-day' meal... which meant that it was opening for another reason.

She highly doubted those reasons were anything good. 

The little girl hadn't survived alone for over a year after being tossed out by her father without developing some survival instincts. And it was those very instincts that had Ashe on her feet before the gas canister had even completely been tossed through the hatch.

It hit the floor of the room with a loud clatter and a pale green gas immediately began spewing out, clouding the room in a poisonous fog. Westley, Miss Wendy, Cindy, and Ethan all began coughing. Ashe yanked the collar of her shirt up over her mouth and nose and stumbled towards the bathroom. On her way there, she could make out the small, hazy figures of Cindy and Ethan collapse on the floor, quickly followed by Westley. Miss Wendy crawled towards her children on her hands and knees but never maid, passing out. 

Ashe had been further away from the canister, so the gas didn't hit her so quickly. She managed to get to the bathroom and grabbed a stray washcloth. Remembering something one of the old farmers in Tough Seed had told once -that if you were ever stuck in a situation where you needed to walk through a smokey than you should soak a piece of cloth in water, hold it to your nose and mouth, and stay close to the ground- Ashe turned on the faucet -and left it on. It was petty but she wanted to waste these assholes' precious water supply- and stuck the rag under it. 

Once the cloth was significantly soaked, Ashe pressed it hard against the face. She was light-headed now and swaying on her feet; she collapsed into the corner of the little shower and waited. Ashe knew that she had no hope of fighting off the gas but just wanted to breathe it in as little as possible. 

The darkness still came.

* * *

It was hot. 

Hot and dry and windy. 

Ashe felt the familiar feeling of sandy windy hitting her in the face. Her eyes, their lids heavy and tired, flickered open... only to slam back shut as a bright, harsh light assaulted her senses, and grains of sand got caught in her eyes. 

" _ Ugggghhhh _ ," she groaned, reaching up to rub her face. A hard, rough piece of metal brushed against Ashe's mouth and the strangeness of the sensation caused her to open her eyes again. Ashe blinked hard a few times, fighting the urge to vomit as her head pounded and the world spun, but, soon enough, her hands came into focus.

Well, not really her hands. She was mostly focused on her wrists, specifically the heavy metal cuffs that bound them together in front of her. 

A scream started to build up in Ashe's throat and the urge to fling herself around, to fight, kicked in but, before she could do anything, there was a voice from somewhere above her.

"Oi, looks like Lil' Red is awake," Voice #1 commented, his ugly face swimming into view above Ashe.

"Oh yeah?" Voice #2 asked with a chuckle. "Little brat is tough. That's good, that means whoever buys her will get more use out of her body. Maybe she'll even live long enough to learn to like."

"You're sick," the other man snickered. "When are the buyers arriving?"

"Two days. They're coming from far and wide too, word of our high-quality product has definitely spread."

"Only two days? That is no time at all."


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This arc is taking longer than expected but WOW I can't believe it is already half done!

The small rowboat bumped against the shore, the bottom of the vessel scraping against the rocky sand. Rena jumped from the boat with a yap, running a quick lap around the little cove to check for any suspicious scents or critters. Kravos grunted as he followed the dog, tugging the boat to shore where he tied it secularly to a nearby tree trunk. 

With a quick, muttered clairvoyance spell, a trail of translucent, pale blue magical energy confirmed that Kravos was still going in the right direction. It still stretched out over the water, but the waves had been too rough to continue on in the small boat. The threat of capsizing left Kravos with two options: finding and stealing a large boat or, as he decided, going by land. 

_ 'Of course, there is no guarantee this will lead me to Ashe,' _ he mused, _ 'but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I can always get another boat if need be.' _

Shuffling around some supplies into different knapsacks and burlap sacks -it was likely this would take a few days at least and Kravos didn't trust any food or water that wasn't from his own supply. Plus, Ashe would probably want a change of clothes once he found her- Kravos whistled, signaling Rena to his side and looked up to the sky. It was later in the day, but there would still be a couple of hours until nightfall. 

Desperate as he was, Kravos was unsure about traveling at night. This land and its creatures were so strange, so foreign; he knew nothing about them. While the old Dragonborn was confident that he could handle anything thrown his way, there was the undeniable fact that his magic was weaker here. Back in Skyrim and the rest of Tamriel, magical energy filled the air with its intangible power, just waiting to be converted into any number of spells. Some places innately had more magical energy than others, in Blackreach it was so thick in the air that Kravos could almost taste it, but no place was completely without it.

But here, the air was...  _ stale _ , all but completely devoid of any sort of magic. It was as if all the life and energy of the world had been killed by something! All of the magic Kravos performed had to be powered by his internal reserves, which, yes, were vast, but still limited. And what he was about to do would be draining. 

"Arvak, I summon you," he chanted, his hands and the ground before him glowing a dark, spectral purple. "Come forward and aid me!"

With a flash of light and a rush of dead cold icy air, the skeletal, undead horse appeared, his eyes glowing white, and his mane and tail burning with a purple flame. He was a terrifying sight to behold, a figure from the nightmares of small children and grown men alike, and Kravos was so happy to see him. 

"Helll **_ ooooo _ ** , Rider," Arvak said, stretching his unnatural body out. "Co **_ mmmm _ ** ing here felt wrong. Was something different thi **_ ssss  _ ** time?"

Well, perhaps 'said' wasn't the right word. Communication between Kravos and his summoned steed was a strange thing. The sounds coming out of the horse was a strange combination of raspy hisses and the clicking of boney teeth and, to this day, Kravos wasn't quite sure if he was the only one who could hear the animal's speech. 

It didn't help matters that Arvak was a uniquely odd creature. Once he was a normal horse but, after spending who knows how long trapped in the Soul Carin, the existence of his very being was twisted and warped. His intelligence was expanded, as was his understanding of the world, but Arvak was still an animal deep down, and the way he thought or felt or interpreted things was different than a human would. It was important to remember that. 

"Yes, we are in... a new place," he explained, rubbing Arvak's nose, enjoying the sensation of warm bone. "It is hard to explain."

"Then wha **_ ttttt _ ** can I a **_ ssss _ ** ist you with, Rider?" the horse rasped, tilting his head to the side. 

"I've taken in a little girl, Ashe, and now someone has taken her from me," Kravos growled, already fastening the burlap sacks and his bedroll to Arvak's saddle. "We're going to go get her back."

"A **_ hhhhh _ ** , you've picked up another little r **_ iiiiiid _ ** er. I wonder if this one wi **_ llllll _ ** be braver than the other **_ sssss _ ** ?" Arvak pondered, causing Kravos to chuckle. Many of his children and grandchildren found the spectral horse too frightening to ride or even get close to, especially when they were young. For the most part, Arvak found this nervousness amusing; sometimes the horse even went out of his way to stomp his hooves and act extra frightening whenever they were watching because he found their reactions funny.

As they grew older, some of them -Runa, Blaise, Hroar, and, later on, Tarno, Glatea, Lyon, and Kravia- had grown used to the Arvak, even becoming fond of him and, for his part, Arvak accepted them easily. Then there was Sissel, who had never shown any fear toward Arvak. But, then again, she was somewhat of an outlier; Sissel had always been a very special girl. 

"Ashlyn has had a hard life," Kravos explained, pulling straps tight. "She can be shy and sensitive, especially when she first came into my care, but under all those scars and fear is a will of steel. It's just, she is... new to the idea and ways of magic, so I think you'll definitely be a shock to her."

Then, after a moment, added, "A welcome one, hopefully."

Kravos didn't like to imagine how Ashe was being treated by the scum that had her, it wouldn't do him any good in the long run; anger would just cloud his mind and throw off his focus. 

_ 'And besides, there are much better uses for my mental energy,'  _ he thought with a dark grin.  _ 'Like imagining all the different types of torment I can rain down upon those who took what is mine.' _

"I can feel the darkne **_ ssssss _ ** inside you pulsing, R **_ iiiiii _ ** der," Arvak rasped. "Your i **_ nnnnn _ ** er beast wants to be r **_ eeeee _ ** leased."

"You know me too well, old friend, and soon it will be time for others to learn that you do not touch what belongs to the last Dragonborn," the old man chuckled, swinging himself up onto the horse's saddle and whistling Rena over to his side. "Now, let's ride."

* * *

Hours later, just as the sun was setting over the horizon, Kravos pulled Arvak to a halt so he could survey his surroundings. There was very little of note, just a small outcropping of rocks that dotted the beach, some dry shrubbery, and a strange, rectangular structure. It was this structure that, upon a moment of closer inspection, Kravos decided would make an acceptable enough shelter for tonight.

They had made good distance, riding along the shoreline, and, when he gave it a quick test, the clairvoyance spell revealed both that he was traveling in the right direction and that they were closing in on Ashe's location. Part of him wanted to press on -Arvak didn't slow or tire like a living horse would, after all- but his own tiredness from keeping the summoned horse on this plane of existence and Rena's tired panting told him that it was time to stop. 

"This is far enough for tonight," he said, sliding off Arvak and immediately setting to undoing the packs tied to the horse's saddle. 

Rena just gave a bark of agreement and collapsed in an exhausted heap on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Kravos smiled as his long-time canine companion and set the packs to the ground before giving Arvak a pat to the boney side. "Time to say goodbye, for now, old friend."

Arvak nickered, stretching his body out one last time. "Until ne **_ xxxxxx _ ** t time, Riderrrrrrrr."

"You'll be back before you know it," the old Dragonborn assured as he released the binding on the summoned spirit, causing Arvak to vanish in a flash of dark purple light.

Kravos felt a rush course through his body as soon as the connection of Arvak was severed and he went light-headed for a moment. It was his own magical reserves that fueled the horse's presence in this world and, after riding for several hours, they were significantly depleted. Kravos let himself lean against the structure for support as his breathing evened out and his heartbeat returned to normal. 

One of Rena's eyes flickered open and, after a moment, the pooch forced herself up and trotted to his side, kindly licking one of his hands.

"I'm fine, girl," he said, scratching Rena behind the ears. "I'm just tired... and old."

Gods, was he old! No longer was Kravos the strapping young Breton who could take on an entire army single-handed or satisfy five women in the same night. Perhaps he hadn't needed to take up a cane in his old age and he hadn't grown fat around the middle and his mind was still as sharp as ever, but the effects of time were still present. 

"Let's get settled in for the night and then I'll heal up you, sound good?" he asked the dog, who just barked. 

Plans for the immediate future decided on, Kravos turned to give the structure a more thorough inspection. Running his hand over the side, he frowned.  _ 'Metal? I've never seen craftsmanship like this. The hinges and bolts are so delicate; they're old, sure, and poorly cared for, but the structure is still standing. This land is truly strange; nothing like Tamriel in the least.' _

The shelter, which appeared to be some sort of larger container, was dark green in color, surrounded by a thick patch of bramble bushes, and covered in a thick layer of rust, so thick that he couldn't even pull the rolling side door all the way shut. After tugging at it unsuccessfully, Kravos gave it up; while there was a chill coming off the water, this land wasn't as cold as Skyrim and a small fire would keep him and Rena plenty warm. 

_'Get a fire going. Prepare camp. Set up proper protection. Cook food. Eat. Tend injuries and bodily strain. Sleep.'_

It was a series of actions that Kravos had performed hundreds, perhaps thousands of times, in almost as many places and with as many different people. With the routine came a sense of calmness and control. His hands and muscles and mind knew what to do; there was no need to think about anything and, given the past few days, it felt incredibly nice to give his mind a break. 

He gathered a series of similar-sized rocks and some sand to create a make-shift fire pit, found some old, gnarled piece of wood, and, with a quick spell, got a fire going. The heat from the flames already warming up the enclosed space of his temporary shelter and providing enough light to work with, Kravos secured his supplies and -taking his poor, old back into consideration- laid out a thick, comfortable sleeping pad in the warmest corner of the shelter, spreading his bedroll out on top of it. The next order of business was to lay out a large fire rune trap outside the entrance of the container to protect himself and Rena while they slept. The Lakeview Shephard had been thoroughly trained to be aware of and avoid such traps, so Rena would be perfectly fine if nature called during the night. 

By now the fire was hot enough to cook with, so Kavos set up a small travel pot and, using the provisions he'd brought along, got a quick stew going. That taken care of, Kravos took one of the bowls he'd brought and poured a healthy amount of water into the bowl, mixing in a half-bottle of a standard health potion. 

Rena's keen yet tired eyes watched him work and, when Kravos slid the bowl over to the exhausted canine, started lapping at the water. The old Dragonborn smiled warmth and lovingly gave Rena several long scratches behind the ears before he muttered a healing spell, running his hands over the length of the dog's body, massaging and manually stretching Rena's lead muscles. Kravos had specifically bred Lakeview Shepherds to be able to run or swim long distances with little issue, but Rena wasn't a young pup anymore and Kravos was worried about the strain this trip was causing her body. 

Rolling onto her back to enjoy the final moments of his rub down, Rena sneezed and licked his hand again. The stew now bubbling in its pot, Kravos gave the dog a small pile of jerky for a meal and took the stew off the fire. It was hot enough to burn his tongue and the roof of his mask, nor was it particularly tasty, but it and some hardtack bread got the job done. Kravos' stomach filled and happy, he poured the rest of the stew into Rena's bowl for her to enjoy. 

_ 'Now, for some sleep.' _

But that was easier said than done and Kravos found his head filled with worries about all the horrid things Ashe could be going through. 

_ 'It isn't as if this was the first time a child under my care has run off,' _ he thought to himself,  _ 'and it isn't even the first time one has ended up in danger because of it.' _

This was true. Runa, Hroar, Samuel, and Francios had all run away at least once after coming into his care, usually in fear after getting into some minor bit of trouble. Blaise had never fully run away, exactly, but sometimes -if he felt Kravos was angry with him- would slip out of the house to sleep in the barn or stables, and Alesan, so used to having next to no supervision, would wander off for entire days at a time if he was upset. Then there was Britte, who ran off so often that there was a time Kravos seriously considered putting the girl on a leash. 

But this was...  _ different _ . He was in this new, strange place and had no idea who it was that had Ashe. The clairvoyance spell told him that she was still alive, at least, but alive didn't necessarily mean well. 

_ 'I can't let myself think about it, _ ' Kravos told himself.  _ 'I need my sleep. Ashe needs me at my best. I can't let her down because of some stupid mistake.'  _

Ignoring the protests of his old bones, he settled into his bedroll and closed his eyes. Kravos heard Rena get up and pad over to him, her nails pinging against the metal floor of the shelter; the dog curled against his side, lending him her warmth and support.

_ 'I'll be there soon, Ashe. Stay strong for a little bit longer.'  _

It was half a thought and half a prayer, but it managed to lull the old Dragonborn to sleep nonetheless.


End file.
